Bricklaying student Josh Patten was given a taste of life in the trade during work experience at a high-profile York construction site.
Josh was offered a week-long placement with Lindum Group, after he was featured in the business pages of the York Press newspaper.
Josh was profiled by the paper after winning a York College award for his bricklaying skills and was given the chance to put his talents to good use at Lindum’s York Racecourse site.
Lindum, based at Elvington, is currently carrying out a major redevelopment at York Racecourse, which includes new toilet blocks, better access for wheelchairs and pushchairs, very close to the listed Clocktower building.
Josh, who previously attended Archbishop Holgate’s School, said he was delighted to be offered work experience at the prominent site.
“I was happy to do my placement at Lindum as they are a successful company with a good reputation for their work and for looking after their employees,” he said. “During my time working at the racecourse, I had a go at multiple tasks including blockwork and brickwork.
“I would like to go and get an apprenticeship and become a fully qualified bricklayer. Having the chance to gain work experience enabled me to learn things I hadn’t learned in college. Importantly, I also had an insight into what life is like working on a site.
“It was such a useful and enjoyable experience.”
Josh spend a week at the Racecourse site, where he worked with site manager Gareth Townend and Lindum trainee Kieran Bond (pictured)
Lindum MD Jonathan Sizer said: “The construction trade is facing a potentially crippling skills shortage and we are keen to employ good people directly and bring fresh talent into the industry.
“Opening up our sites to keen and talented newcomers is vital if we want to meet the labour demands of the way in which we work.
“We were delighted to have Josh working as part of the team. He is definitely one for us to keep our eye on for the future!”
Lindum Group recruitment manager Sophie Burton added: “We read in the local press that Josh had received an award for his bricklaying and thought we could offer him on-site work experience to help him expand his knowledge of bricklaying.
“After contacting the college’s Work Placement Team we had a visit from Health and Safety, who carried out a risk assessment.
“We were able to give Josh a varied work experience and tried to teach him as much as we could practically. We have recruited many people though our work experience placements.”
