A young man who began his construction industry career as an apprentice joiner has now found it the perfect starting point to a new role as site manager for national housebuilder Redrow Homes. Overseeing work at Ambion Way in Burbage, Leicestershire, Ryan, now 25, started his career at the company at the age of 16, and is following in the footsteps of his father Vince, who has been working at Redrow for 20 years now. “I’d always enjoyed making things, my dad and brother worked for Redrow and I wanted to join them in the building trade. When I was at school I had a work experience placement on site spending a day with each of the different trades and that helped me decide I wanted to train as a joiner,” recalls Ryan. During his three-year apprenticeship Ryan attended college one day a week while working on site four days a week. With the apprenticeship finished, Ryan continued to work on a number of Redrow sites as a self-employed joiner before he started training as a site assistant. “In the last two years I’ve become more confident and have taken on more responsibility so when the opportunity to progress to site manager came up it was the perfect timing for me,” says Ryan. “Because I started off as an apprentice and I’m now a site manager, it shows that there are doors that can be opened if you work hard and put the effort in. Hopefully in future I’ll be able to progress to contracts manager.” A successful apprenticeship brought early rewards for Ryan. He could buy his own home at the age of 23, and has utilised his skills to strip it back and renovate it throughout, including fitting it with new stairs and windows. “Everyone else I went to school with didn’t have a clue what they wanted to do, but I’m glad I did because I’ve built a career and bought my own house,” he says. “Now that I’ve got a foot on the property ladder and there’s equity in it, if I want to move to somewhere bigger I can.” Redrow is one of the leading housebuilders in the recruitment, training and apprenticeship stakes, with trainees currently accounting for 17% of Redrow’s workforce across England and Wales. The Tamworth-based Midlands division which Ryan works for now has 30 apprentices and trainees of its own. Graham Micklewright, managing director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), says: “Ryan is a prime example of Redrow’s commitment to nurturing and supporting its people; from apprentices and other trainees to those at other stages of their career who want to expand their qualifications and experience. We have every confidence in Ryan’s ability and hope that he will continue to progress and develop in his new role as site manager. He’ll hopefully encourage other apprentices and trainees to come through the system too.” Come to listen and talk about housebuilding careers – apprenticeship, diversity, training and leadership – at our New Homes Debate in London on Thursday 15 March 2018. Did you like this? Share it:
Redrow 's apprenticeship scheme is praised by Ryan , now a site manager at the firm 's Midlands division , for allowing him to establish a career and get on the property ladder ahead of his school peers . Following family footsteps into the building trade and Redrow , Ryan worked four days and only one during his three - year apprenticeship and was as a self - employed joiner on several Redrow sites before training as a site assistant . His next goal is contracts manager . They constitute around 17 % of Redrow 's current workforce in England and Wales .