Published: Wednesday 13 December 2023
Young people aged 16- to 24-year olds have benefited from work experience, apprenticeships and education opportunities provided as part of a Kensington and Chelsea Council new homes development.
Marky Jimenez, 17-year-old apprentice working at the Acklam Road new homes sites said:
“The Acklam Road project has given me a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am committed to continuing my learning journey and excited to acquire new skills and knowledge that will benefit me for many years to come. It’s been an incredible experience that has prepared me for the future along with various career progression opportunities.”
What is happening at Acklam Road?
Through the contract to build 32 new homes at Acklam Road, North Kensington, the Council and construction partner Morgan Sindall have provided six local jobs, taken on five work experience candidates, and invested in eight apprentices in collaboration with Morgan Sindall’s Supply Chain Partners and Community Development 4 All, a local social enterprise helping residents with apprenticeships.
Cllr Sof McVeigh, Lead member for Housing Management, Housing Safety, and Building New Homes said:
“This project highlights the importance of social value in community building and the impact it has on our communities. I want to extend my thanks to our development partners for playing their part in supporting and creating jobs and training opportunities for our communities to thrive.
We want to continue to invest and expand our efforts by working together to create a vibrant and inclusive community supporting our ambition to become a Greener, Safer and Fairer borough for all.”
How we supported the local community?
Morgan Sindall engaged with over 450 students and arranged site visits to the Acklam Road development and construction talks for pupils at schools and academies in the borough, while volunteers spent 30 hours cleaning and planting the community garden at Al Manaar Cultural and Heritage Centre based near the construction site.
Project Director Lee Askey at Morgan Sindall said:
“Our social value commitment at Morgan Sindall is to create long-lasting, environmentally sustainable communities. We are so proud of our social value achievements on the Acklam Road project; we have established fantastic relationships with numerous key partners and stakeholders, creating opportunities in order to give back to the local community.”
Video: Acklam Road housing project unlocks employment and training opportunities for young people
Full transcript of this video
[00:01] um I live in the local area um I enjoy swimming and boxing and I like to do Sports and um I'm also very passionate about my job that I do and college and studying so I'd like to progress in my career so my job on site is I do brick claying and block claying I applied through a application I saw online through the government website and it led to a interview a a phone call interview and that then progressed to a face to face interview which then kind of turned into they offered me a 4-week trial and then I came came straight here
[00:37] you're surrounded by people that have similar interests to you and also like the the same things that you're doing um it also is like is a good way of making making connections for throughout your career my plans for the future is so I want to get qualified and I want to progress through Lee Marley like through the company I work for now so I want to start off as an apprentice get qualified and just progress into maybe being a supervisor or project manager cuz it's a brilliant opportunity and it gives you great great great uh grounds to set on
[01:09] for your career I would say to give it your best try and it will definitely pay back it will definitely help you in the [Music] future