Careys teams up with college for groundworker apprenticeship

Delivery of the apprenticeship will be carried out from the Careys’ Milton Keynes office, which under the terms of the three-year deal has become a joint Careys and Milton Keynes College campus. 

The college is taking over the ground floor of the building for classroom work, while practical work is carried out in the yard behind the building.  Careys will continue to use the offices on the first floor of the building.

The level 2 groundworker apprenticeship, which takes 15 months to complete, provides students with a range of skills that include:

• principles of health, safety, welfare and environmentally responsible work practices
• basic principles of building information modelling (BIM)
• locating and excavating to expose buried utility services
• providing temporary works including excavation support
• basic principles of internal/external drainage and ducting systems
• install and test basic drainage and ducting
• transport and place, then compact and finish concrete to slabs/bases, footing oversights, paths, form slab edgings including positioning reinforcement and kerbs
• set out and lay flags, paviours and edging to paths, driveways and other areas
• install ironworks relating to access covers and frames, and gully grates and frames including preparatory brickwork
• locate and excavate to expose buried utility services using electronic location instruments.

In addition to the groundworker students, the campus is also the home to the Anglian Water alliance full time pre-apprenticeship students – a year-long training programme with a guaranteed apprenticeship interview on completion.

Under the partnership Careys has also committed to providing curriculum development assistance to ensure the college’s delivery of the course reflects the needs and requirements of the industry.

Milton Keynes College director Anna Clarke said: “This partnership with Careys opens a whole host of opportunities for students to learn and develop their skills and relationships within industry.”

Carey Group chief executive Jason Carey said: “Two students from the college have already started their apprenticeship with Careys at our Gravenhill Pioneer Road Roundabout project and we look forward to welcoming many more – not just in to Careys but the wider industry in general – over the coming months and years.”

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