Ian Williams, one of the UK’s largest privately-owned property services companies, is delighted to celebrate the latest award for one of its apprentices, a further endorsement of the success of the Ian Williams Academy. Congratulations to Painting & Decorating Apprentice, Katie White for winning The Rising Star Award 2023 in the recent National Housing Maintenance Forum Awards.
Sian Pearce, Training and Development Manager who oversees the Ian Williams’ Academy commented: “We are absolutely over the moon that Katie has been named The Rising Star at NHMF 2023 awards. It is so well-deserved and the result of a lot of hard work and dedication from Katie. It’s also testament to the team effort that goes into supporting the apprentices in our care, to enable them to grow and develop their careers; so, a special thank you to Katie’s mentor, Wayne Cockley and Academy Apprentice Officer Jo Down for all their support.
“Katie joined us as a painting and decorating apprentice in 2020, and working alongside our client The Hyde Group, has had a significant impact on the local team. Her can-do attitude and exceptional performance also saw her win Joint Runner-Up in the Junior Apprentice of the Year in the prestigious Painting & Decorating Association Trophy Awards 2022. What’s really exciting to us as a business, is that Katie’s own achievements are paving the way for our other current and future female apprentices too.
“The award-winning Academy which has supported Katie’s development, celebrated five years in 2022. During that time, we’ve provided almost 17,000 hours of training to over 2,000 apprentices, trainee surveyors and other individuals in different disciplines across the business. We’re so proud that 147 apprentices successfully completed their training, with 97 of them opting to continue on their career path with Ian Williams. Recruiting, retaining and developing talented people is the lifeblood and vital not only to the future success of Ian Williams, but of the construction industry as a whole, and it’s a responsibility that we take seriously.”
