Dozens of young people from Glasgow benefit from a Skills Day funded by regeneration specialist Urban Union.
The company, which is currently delivering the Laurieston Living development in the Gorbals, is committed to supporting young people into careers in the construction industry. Following on from recent Scottish Apprenticeship Week activity, they held a Skills Day in collaboration with New Gorbals Housing Association.
Pupils from various schools attended, in addition to young people put forward by Jobs and Business Glasgow, The Prince’s Trust and Working Rite, a youth employment charity.
Held at First Steps Future Training in Bridgeton, the event saw 54 people take part in various activities, including bricklaying, painting and decorating, monoblocking and joinery. They then met a number of Urban Union’s subcontractors as part of the effort to find apprenticeships or work placements.
Neil McKay, Managing Director, Urban Union, said: “Urban Union is fully committed to supporting young people into employment, particularly those who live in the areas we operate in.
“We wanted to hold a special event where people could come along and get some hands-on experience and also meet some potential employers. Having so many young people attend was fantastic and hopefully several of them will now have a clearer idea of career options in the future and perhaps even have secured an opportunity with one of the businesses who attended.”
Urban Union currently supports a number of apprentices across its three sites — Laurieston Living in Glasgow, Pennywell Living in Edinburgh and Muirton Living in Perth.
Jodie McCann, a Teacher at Holyrood Secondary School, said: “A huge thank you to Urban Union for providing such an amazing event for our students. Events like this are rare and give students interested in trade careers a unique opportunity to try trade skills in an industry setting. Having partners in industry is crucial for developing our young workforce and we look forward to working with Urban Union on future events.”
