Shadow Economy Minister visits Persimmon Construction Academy @ Bridgend College

Persimmon Homes and Bridgend College last week hosted South Wales West MS and Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for the Economy, Luke Fletcher for a visit of its site at Llanilid.

Luke was given a tour of the Persimmon Academy, which sees apprentices develop their skills at a bespoke construction and learning facility at our development near Ponytclun.

The visit was led by Persimmon’s Regional Quality Director, Carl Davey, while he also met with the College’s Vice Principal, Matt Williams, and other representatives from Bridgend College who oversee the course.

A number of Academy apprentices were on hand to talk to Luke about their experiences so far, while he also had the opportunity to find out more about Persimmon’s innovative partnership with the College, which is creating quality career opportunities in the South Wales construction industry.

Commenting on the visit, South Wales West Member of the Senedd and Shadow Minister for the Economy, Luke Fletcher MS said:

“I am grateful to Persimmon and Bridgend College for inviting me to see their exciting initiative based at the Llanilid development.

“Construction is a great enabler of the Welsh economy, and it was a pleasure to meet with the apprentices who come from all walks of life.

“It is vital businesses develop a strong local workforce, and I’m pleased to see the housebuilder’s partnership with the College is creating a number of quality apprenticeship opportunities for local people.

“This is a creative collaboration between industry and education which is helping to deliver good quality jobs for people, young and old, across my region of South Wales West.”

Persimmon Academy apprentices work towards a Higher National Certificate qualification that includes the ground-breaking ‘Persimmon Way’, which delivers a holistic approach to construction quality including enhanced technical standards.

This year, alongside the College, at Persimmon we have also designed a ‘management apprenticeship’ course that is bespoke to Persimmon, and will train future staff for the company’s Welsh developments with qualifications in construction and site management.

Carl Davey, Persimmon’s Regional Quality Director, said:

“It was a pleasure to welcome Luke to the Persimmon Academy at Bridgend College, and to give a tour of our nearby development which is providing quality homes for local people at Llanilid.

“Our partnership with Bridgend College is vital for the future of our business, and is helping us secure a strong and talented long-term pipeline of local workers.

“We look forward to continuing our engagement with key stakeholders as we continue to enhance the Academy and our first-class learning environment for the next generation of construction workers in South Wales.”

The initiative between Persimmon and Bridgend College builds on a successful relationship that has developed between the two organisations over the past five years, and which has created over 150 new job opportunities in construction across South Wales.

Rob Clover, Course Lecturer at Bridgend College, said:

“Our strong partnership with Persimmon Homes is providing our apprentices the opportunity to gain the skills and qualifications that are needed for future employment within the building and construction sector.

“The Persimmon Construction Academy is a fantastic bespoke construction and learning facility and we were delighted to meet with Luke and highlight some of the great work being undertaken by our learners on site.”

Photo: Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher meeting with Persimmon Academy apprentices, Carl Davey, Matt Williams and Rob Clover.