Building Opportunities for Students in Barking, Dagenham and Romford
| Author: Vanessa Holmes | Published: 19th June 2008 18:01 |
Winston Payne of 2 Pitons Building Services, tells AboutMyArea of his plans to move his business to Barking and Dagenham.
Students who are learning building skills in local colleges could soon find a new route to achieving their ambitions in the building trade. Actually, it's more of a bridge than a route. As Winston Payne explained, "I am passionate about enabling young people to succeed who first, having gained the necessary qualifications in building related skills, need to get sufficient work experience before they are taken on."
And no one knows just how difficult this can be than Winston. Having finished college as a qualified bricklayer, he found that it was not easy to get work on building sites where you were expected to produce the same quality and output as experienced workers. He soon discovered that there was a general reluctance in the building trade to taking on what was known as "Improvers". That is, young people - normally straight out of college - who needed to gain work experience.
Winston persevered, taking on more and more tasks until he'd mastered all the various trades associated with building work. Now he has his own company. This is currently based in the Victoria Park area of Tower Hamlets, but he is planning to move his business to Barking and Dagenham.
"Once I have sufficient work in the pipeline" he told me, "I will start looking for suitable premises to move into."
This will be good news for students hoping for careers in building, because Winston plans to take on newly qualified students in the ratio of one "Improver" to five experienced workers. And as these young people gain enough experience to move on - so he will take on more students to replace them, ensuring a continuous flow of young people getting on in the building trade.
Winston is confident that his scheme will produce excellent results, and not without good cause. He has been involved with young people his whole working life, having been a part-time Youth Worker spending three evenings a week supervising youngsters competing for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. More recently he has also worked as a part-time lecturer at Hackney College, taking students aged 16 and above on bricklaying courses.
"Many students leave college full of enthusiasm, having gained the necessary qualifications in their chosen trades, only to find barriers placed in their way by employers reluctant to take on workers whom they perceive as not able to pull their weight." Winston declared. "These young people often lose heart, and then - after a time - the skills that they had trained in become stale. At this point they tend to lose their self-esteem and drift into the sort of mind-frame that sees no value in working for a living."
But the burning passion that Winston has for helping young people succeed in their careers, coupled with the strength of character to make it happen, is going to ensure a better future for those students in and around Barking, Dagenham and Romford!
Winston Payne, Managing Director, 2 Pitons Building Services Ltd
18, Ashwin Street
London
E8 3DL
020 8986 5043 / 07932 154470
twopitons@btinternet.com
http://www.2pitonsbuildingservices.co.uk
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