Rebecca – from cleaning to construction
Onsite experience and training
The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) is aiming to increase the construction talent pool in England and Wales through creation of Onsite Experience training hubs, creating a talent pipeline to meet the needs of local construction employers and enabling construction career opportunities for people who want to join the industry. These hubs are designed to provide a one-stop recruitment solution for construction employers.
Women and Manual Trades’ parent company, Procure Plus, works with CITB to identify candidates who would benefit from access to the programme, and the WaMT team identified Rebecca Tucker in north Wales as a candidate. Rebecca was working as a cleaner but had an interest in becoming a stone mason.
Rebecca found out that Adra, a housing provider in North Wales, were running Onsite Experience sessions, and she was keen to take part as she wanted to try something different and get some experience on a construction site. With training co-funded by Procure Plus and support from the Women and Manual Trades team, Rebecca completed her Health & Safety Level 1 qualification, her CSCS touchscreen test including manual handling, first aid training, PASMA, COSHH and fire marshalling.
With her training and CSCS card under her belt, Rebecca embarked on work experience placements for a number of local contractors, doing multi-trades and labouring. She loved being onsite and is now almost four months into a paid placement with housing association Adra, in their repairs and maintenance team.
“I’ve liked doing it all trying out new trades and meeting new people and learning from them. Doing the construction training and the work experience has really been good for me, as I know in the future I can do a lot more things in life and I’d be able to say I’ve had that experience before, and I can do it. Going forward, I’d be looking to do more work in construction as I’ve really enjoyed the whole experience.”