Local employment and skills through refurbishment

After 5 tireless years of all working towards creating a plan for the creation of an estate where people would enjoy living in, it became time to identify a main contractor to carry out the refurbishment. 

The refurbishment programme was seen as an opportunity to not just improve the physical condition and appearance of the flats and environment, but to tackle problems associated with poor skills and high levels of local unemployment. 

In keeping with the commitment to tackle underlying social problems, plans were put in place to establish a skills register to match local people to construction jobs that would be created when the works began. Alfred McAlpine, the main contractor appointed to carry out the work, agreed to create local training opportunities for local people.  

The job centre was involved in setting up the skills register, which was established with modest funding and employed local people to administer the scheme.

This ground breaking scheme saw 50 people gain NVQ qualifications and many went on gain employment, with one long term unemployed man eventually taking up a post with the fledgling Estate Management Boards as a ‘Repairs and Maintenance Worker’, a post he held until his retirement in 2019.   

Continue the story of the EMB here