It’s an exciting start to National Apprenticeship Week thanks to a strong success at our South & City College Birmingham Jobs Fair! Job Fairs are where we work with employers to expand the Birmingham job pool with apprenticeship training & career opportunities.
As part of our college commitment to our community, we were proud to host the launch of 200 more Birmingham apprenticeships, an astonishing pledge by local contractors working for Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV).
This is just one of many of South & City College Birmingham’s successful training partnerships with BBV, who are the construction partner for the High Speed 2 railway line. Recruitment is open now for the first 95 local roles, and the rest will be ready by 2024.
Mike Hopkins MBE, Principal of South & City College Birmingham, said: “We were delighted to host the BBV (Balfour Beatty Vinci) Construction Family Apprenticeship Pledge Launch yesterday at our Bordesley Green Campus, where we welcomed the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, and the Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr. Ian Ward, along with key senior managers from BBV and HS2.
“The construction sector is of great importance to our economy, and it was fantastic to see so many companies committing to investing in the region’s future talent through apprenticeship opportunities.
“We work closely with BBV through our joint SCCB/BBV Skills Academy, based at the Bordesley Green Campus, and look forward to further developing this collaborative work with the BBV Construction Family, providing people of all ages the opportunity to further their education on their journey to securing employment.”
The increase in jobs brought on by the building of HS2 is showing no signs of slowing down. Over 400 brilliant apprentices from the area have already started their HS2 careers.
Shilpi Akbar, Head of Stakeholder and Communities at BBV, said: “This pledge symbolises our commitment to leave a skills legacy, as well as bringing forward jobs and training opportunities for local communities. We particularly want to attract those that have struggled to find work and apprenticeships are a great way of achieving that.”
The Bordesley Green campus is already the home of the Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) Skills Academy. Since it opened with £1.1m backing from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), the Skills Academy has supported local people who were out of work into a job or onto further training in readiness for their chosen career path supporting HS2’s construction.
Know someone local looking for an Apprenticeship? Our Jobs Fair at Bordesley Green campus hosts local employers looking to recruit talent for office and site-based opportunities from Level 2 to Level 6. All jobs will be based in the West Midlands, North and South Warwickshire and Staffordshire.
At the start of your Apprenticeship journey and want to see the people who did it right? We are gearing up to celebrate our exceptional Apprentices who were nominated for the AAC Apprenticeship Awards. Keep tabs with our Apprenticeship pages for all the latest info.