Telford College has congratulated local building contractor McPhillips (Wellington) Limited on its success at the county’s business awards.
The college has worked in partnership with the firm this year on the creation of a new 600 square metre civil engineering training area at the Haybridge campus.
McPhillips has a long-standing relationship with Telford College, and sends its apprentices to study at the centre, gaining experience and developing skills on site.
The company has seen more than 150 apprentices complete its programmes since 1996, and won the apprenticeships trophy at the 2019 Shropshire Chamber Business Awards, in front of more than 600 people at Telford’s International Centre.
Darren Wilson, Telford College’s director of employer engagement, joined his colleagues Susan Gomer and Beckie Bosworth to congratulate the McPhillips team on their success.
He said: “We were delighted to be at the awards evening, and to be among the first to applaud McPhillips on their richly-deserved success.
“With the support from McPhillips, we have been able to turn two diverse sites on our campus into one purpose-built space, which has transformed the apprenticeship practical applications in civil engineering.
“Coupled with the virtual and augmented reality suite we already have on site, it enables the apprentices to experience the best that Telford has to offer in terms of practical professional development.
“The new space allows us to offer practical activities that better resemble the kind of national road building activities and programmes of civil engineering projects that McPhillips undertake on a much larger scale – and is of huge benefit to students.”
FIND CIVIL ENGINEERING OPPORTUNITIES HERE
The new training area has been specifically designed to hone skills in areas such as drainage, road and footpath construction, kerb laying, surfacing, and paving.
Three material storage areas have also been included, giving students chance to learn the process of receiving and checking materials that are delivered to site, and ways of storing them safely.
McPhillips’ marketing manager Mark Kiddie said: “McPhillips is pleased to support Telford College in improving the facilities available to upskill our own trainees, and wider construction industry resources.
“It makes sense to keep our training as local to our Telford base as we can, and having these fantastic facilities on our doorstep is a real advantage.
“With the shortage of people entering construction, the more attractive we can make getting into the industry, the better for everybody.”
Telford College principal and chief executive Graham Guest added: “Our curriculum is tailored around giving students realistic and relevant employment experience – and this is a perfect example.
“We have built valuable and thriving partnerships with many of Shropshire’s leading employers, across a wide range of sectors, which is being further cemented by the introduction of business mentors for our 7th Form students.”
To find out more about Telford College’s range of construction courses, and apprenticeships HERE
