At Stoke-on-Trent construction and maintenance company Carson Powell more than 10% of the staff are currently apprentices and 67% of employees are a current apprentice or started their career that way.

The business, which was founded in 2009 and now has a team of 94, has a policy of matching its apprentices with skilled mentors within the staff and ensuring that learning goes both ways – with apprentices often teaching digital skills to their mentors.

Carson Powell Construction took on its first 16-year-old apprentices in 2011, one of whom is now a project manager responsible for a £1million+ development in the city.

In 2023 the company’s first degree apprentice graduated with first class honours in building surveying and is now completing his professional membership to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Around 96% of the company’s staff live in ST postcodes and it’s proud to have recruited apprentices or employees from disadvantaged or vulnerable households where neither parent has a job, where a parent was in prison or where education wasn’t supported in the home.

Even if they are not an apprentice, every team member is given the opportunity to ensure they have the correct skills for their job including external and in-house training, providing opportunities for management and trade development.

Investment in training has increased in 2023/24 for the company with the aim of reaping the benefits in the long term by not spending as much time and money recruiting.

During National Apprentice Week Carson Powell Managing Director Neil Powell ran a team building day for apprentices and their managers. The company looks forward to welcoming four more apprentices in September 2024.

Carson Powell Construction has entered the Skills For The Future category of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.