A-Plant has triumphed at this year’s CITB Managing Agency Apprentice Awards, winning both the Large Employer of the Year Award for England and the Large Employer of the Year Award for the whole of the UK.
The prestigious awards ceremony was held at London’s Plaisterers’ Hall, with A-Plant’s Head of Training Bob Harper collecting the accolades from guest speaker and Olympian Colin Jackson, himself a former apprentice, and CITB Chief Executive Adrian Belton.
With a workforce of more than 2,400 employees, A-Plant employs over 110 apprentices across a number of disciplines, including Plant Maintenance, Driving, Customer Services, Electro-Technical, Human Resources, Finance and Credit Control. Regarded as one of the most successful and highly sought after Apprenticeship Schemes in the equipment rental industry, over 1,000 applicants typically apply for the 50 A-Plant Apprenticeship places available each year.
A-Plant’s Head of Training, Bob Harper, said: “We are absolutely delighted to win both these awards. To be declared Apprentice Large Employer of the Year across Great Britain is a tremendous accolade and it is testament to the quality and the value of the A-Plant Apprenticeship Programme. It provides us with a pool of skilled employees, gears our business up for the future and provides employment and progression opportunities for people across the country.”
With one of the highest retention rates for Apprentices in the construction sector, 16 A-Plant Apprentices completed their level 3 qualification and were provided full-time employment with A-Plant in 2013.
The company is also striving for greater gender equality in the construction industry. Whilst there is an overall 90% male employment rate in the construction sector, 22% of A-Plant’s Apprentices are female.
A-Plant’s Apprenticeship Programme is constantly evolving and in September this year, the company launched a new Apprenticeship Scheme in Mechanical Engineering.
Deborah Madden, CITB Area Delivery Manager for Merseyside & Cheshire said: “The CITB Managing Agency Apprentice Awards are a fantastic way to celebrate the hard work being done by CITB apprentices and their employers across the country. We’re delivering gold standard apprenticeships that meet the needs of a hi-tech, world-class industry with outstanding career prospects. These awards have shown how important apprenticeships are to the industry, and allow us to showcase the excellent young talent we’re producing.”
