The country’s largest supplier and manufacturer of precast concrete solutions is broadening its skills base by taking on Derby College apprentices.
Rapidly expanding FP McCann employs around 120 people at its Weston Underwood site and has tripled in size since 2010. Currently it employs more than 1,300 staff at 12 sites in the UK and Northern Ireland.
The firm opened the site at Weston Underwood three and a half years ago and quickly began forging links with Derby College.
Now the company has nine apprentices from Derby College on site, six in professional construction, one in business administration and two in electrotechnology.
It is looking to recruit two further professional construction apprentices, two mechanical maintenance apprentices and four CAD apprentices.
The most recent arrival is Jayce Smith, who has switched from the college’s full-time Level Three Professional Construction course.
As a professional construction apprentice, he now works four days a week on site and studies one day a week at college.
Claire May said: “The college recommended Jayce to us, he had an interview and we were keen to take him on. As a company, we are expanding very quickly and as part of that we want to include apprentices, graduates and placements wherever we can.
“In manufacturing and civil engineering, there aren’t huge amounts of people on those types of courses, and we want to attract as many of those who are doing them as possible”.
She added: “We aim to help apprentices move into whichever areas suit their skills – such as contracts, CAD design or quantity surveying,” Claire said.
“On his first day with the business Jayce, whose father is a joiner, said he would ‘like to have a crack at anything the company offers’”.
Smith added: “I particularly enjoy design procedures and creating things, as well as problem solving”.
