Ringway and Wiltshire Council are working with charity Building Heroes to support ex-service men and women to find employment in the highways sector within the UK.
The first cohort of 12 trainees will begin a bespoke course on 11th April, equipping them with the core skills needed for a career in the highways sector.
Ringway has worked alongside Wiltshire Council and Building Heroes to create a dedicated training centre at Semington, five minutes from Ringway’s Melksham office. The Civils and Groundwork Academy at Semington is on a site provided by Wiltshire Council and will provide a safe, practical space for technical, hands-on training in skills such as excavation, laying drainage, searching for underground services, setting out secondary dimensional controls, safe-dig, and kerb laying.
The goal is to retrain veterans into a new industry over a 5-week period. Ringway and Building Heroes have designed the programme to cover wider skills including Health and Safety, Digitalisation and IT, and Employability - all in addition to the technical skills needed to become a skilled Highway Operative.
Established in 2014, Building Heroes is dedicated to supporting service leavers, veterans, reservists, and military families and has always provided building and construction training and routes to employment in the building sector. Karen Jefford, Chief Operating Officer at Building Heroes says,
“This is a great collaboration between Building Heroes, Ringway and the council. Once we have this first cohort through the training, we will not only have provided skills and employment opportunities for the servicemen and women but established a new Civils and Groundwork Academy that we can use to help even more veterans.”
Each ‘learner’ will be given work experience during the programme, providing an opportunity for real-life insights into the Operative role. Furthermore, each learner will be guaranteed an interview, which we hope will lead to a viable, long term career opportunity. The course leads to a recognised qualification and as such, the course is SQA approved and leads to a Level 2 in Construction Operations, actively supported by the Adult Education Board.
Nick Goddard, Ringway Regional Director said:
“We cannot wait to welcome the first cohort through this course. We are absolutely committed to developing a long-term relationship with Building Heroes that will deliver a positive step-change for local ex-Service people. The set-up of the Civils and Groundwork Academy is a great foundation for this partnership, and we are optimistic it will be the basis of more training to follow. We are grateful for the support from Wiltshire Council that enabled us to create the training centre as well as help from the Royal British Legion, whose team of veterans created the signage around the site. Our ambition is to run an ongoing programme in Wiltshire, equipping 36 ex-servicemen and women with the skills to join the highways sector.”
Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “Wiltshire has a proud military history, and we’re delighted to be working with Ringway and Building Heroes to create these opportunities for ex-service men and women.”
“This programme offers a clear pathway for ex-service people to learn the skills needed to start a career in the highways sector, creating new opportunities and benefiting communities as a whole.”
“This is just the start of a successful relationship that offers meaningful training and opportunities for our ex-forces members here in Wiltshire, and it’s a project we’re pleased to support.”
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