Scotland recently celebrated Apprenticeship week. Alan Burns, Divisions Manager for City Building, explains why the event serves as a reminder to the construction industry for the need to have a continued commitment to delivering structured apprenticeship schemes that will help address the emerging skills gap and identify future leaders.

There have been reports for some time of a skills gap in the construction industry where talents like bricklaying, steel-fixing and concreting are in short supply. One way of addressing this loss of skills is to encourage more young people to consider an apprenticeship as a career route.Quality Apprenticeships can help people progress and succeed and they can help businesses create the skilled workforce they need to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Leading Scottish construction company, City Building, has rewarded the tradespeople of tomorrow at its annual Apprentice Awards, which took place on Tuesday 16 June.

Around 180 apprentices across all sectors of the business including, construction, administration, heating and lift engineering were shortlisted for the awards, which were hosted by Radio Clyde DJ Diane Knox (Knoxy) at the City Chambers in Glasgow.

23 awards were handed out at the event which saw 4th year apprentice painter and decorator Lee Raeburn named City Building Apprentice of the year.

City Building has secured a prestigious European award for its commitment to deliver excellence throughout its organisation.

Quality Scotland, national partner of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) an organisation for driving performance improvement, presented its Committed to Excellence award to City Building. The award is presented once a year in recognition of companies that strive to reach sustainable excellence in the private, public and non-profit sectors.

During the assessment process to be considered for the award employees from all across the company took part, from apprentices to the executive director. Participants carried out a number of exercises such as understanding how effective the company’s deployment strategy is, looking at current strengths and opportunities and establishing a baseline position to measure progress over time. Following a number of assessments and interviews with managers and focus groups City Building secured the award for the first time.

Leading Scottish construction firm, City Building, welcomed Annabelle Ewing MSP, Minister for Youth and Women’s Employment, to its RSBI facility this week as the firm highlighted its continuing commitment to encourage women to take up careers in the construction industry.

During her visit Ms Ewing met with a number of female apprentices and tradespeople who shared their experiences of working for the company.

City Building has played a leading role in supporting women to take up careers in the construction industry, with the most recent figures from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) showing that the company is responsible for employing a quarter of all female construction apprentices in Scotland.

It’s a family affair as Glasgow’s newest school opens – at a cost of £11.5 million.

Crumbling Garrowhill Primary School has been replaced with a state-of-the-art new building. And it was a real community effort as local parents were involved in the build, including dad Scott Stewart. Mr Stewart is Senior Electrical Contracts Manager for City Building, which ran the project, and oversaw the electrical work in the school. His two daughters, Aimee and Nicole, are in primary two and primary five.

Leading Scottish construction company, City Building, has presented two charities with £10,000 each following successful fundraising activities.

The cheques were awarded to Kidney Research UK and Beatson Cancer Charity at Glasgow City Chambers following a charity golf day jointly organised by the company, and the Lord Provost’s and International Office, at Sandyhills Golf Course at the end of last year.

City Building with support from its suppliers and staff from the Lord Provost’s and International Office raised the money organising a range of activities including auctions, longest drive competitions and beat the pro challenges.

City Building selected Beatson Cancer Charity and Kidney Research UK as their corporate charities in early 2014 as part of its community engagement programme allowing the firm to give something back to the city.