We caught up with the brilliant Leon Construction OC Ltd based at Little Chesterton near Bicester. We’ve worked with Leon for a number of years now and they have been firm supporters of apprentices and training all that time, as they told us:

Tell us about your apprentice?
Leon Construction OC Ltd has two apprentices. George, who will soon be in his second year with us and our new apprentice Harvey. Both of our boys are exceptionally good, always on time and keen to learn. Construction work is often extremely early starts and long days, often in quite hostile weather and both of our boys just get on with it.

What made you decide to take on an apprentice?
As a company, our aim is to provide a high-quality experience for all our clients and customer satisfaction is at the heart of our business ethos. To achieve this, Leon Construction OC Ltd employ the best people in their respective fields and continue, to train, develop and support our staff, to ensure their expertise remains within the organisation. Leon Construction OC Ltd decided to start an apprenticeship scheme, as we are passionate about learning and developing people, and as a company we want to offer opportunities for promotion and as a result, we are proud to have a full team working to the same exceptional standards as our directors Leon O’Callaghan and Ted Owen.

Why do you think we have a shortage of young people going into construction in the UK?
Manual labour is hard and young people are more used to roles behind the desk and increasingly young people are less hands on, therefore might not think they have the skills to go on learning a trade.

What would you say to companies out there that don’t take on apprentices?
We would encourage companies to try at least. If you find a good candidate, you can develop them to fit into your work culture and it is quite satisfying to see them learn and develop and then be able to carry out work independently.

What would you say to anyone thinking about taking up construction as a career?
If you work hard and are good what you do, you always have a job if you have learned a trade and instead of leaving the school with lots of student loans, you can earn while you learn.

Find out more about Leon Construction OC Ltd here.