Case Study: Young Apprentice Gets a Career Head-Start on the City Deal Renfrew Bridge
As part of community benefit requirements on Glasgow City Region City Deal projects, local young people are gaining valuable employment and training opportunities.
Greg Irving (pictured), from Erskine, started with Graham Construction in September 2021 after finishing school in Renfrew.
He joined as an apprentice quantity surveyor on the City Deal funded Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside project, and is now in his fourth year working towards an Honours degree in Quantity Surveying at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Reflecting on his experience, he said: “The apprenticeship has given me a great start to my career.
“Being able to study at university while getting real work experience has meant I have learned a lot from experienced people in the industry, and has helped me to prepare for a full-time job in the construction industry.
“When I finish the apprenticeship, I’ll not only have a qualification but also a lot of real-world experience in the industry.”
His apprenticeship has involved work on cost forecasting and cost reporting, managing different subcontracting packages, measuring up packages of works, and working in a team.
Throughout his apprenticeship, he said he has been given more responsibility, gained more independence, built his confidence, and has taken on a larger workload.
Greg is looking forward to completing his degree and starting work full-time as a quantity surveyor.
Earlier this month, the UK and Scottish governments joined local leaders to mark ten years of the Glasgow City Region City Deal and to reflect on what has been achieved through the £1.13 billion of funding.
One of the largest and the most advanced in the UK, Glasgow’s Deal has delivered a range of high-profile projects such as Greenock Ocean Terminal, the bridge over the M8 at Sighthill and the Govan to Partick bridge – with the new Renfrew bridge set to open later this year.
Signed in 2014, Glasgow’s Deal provides £500 million each from the UK and Scottish governments for a range of infrastructure, employability and innovation projects with the eight local councils contributing a further £130 million.
Over the past ten years, the Region has undergone a period of epic transformation supported by the City Deal.
City Deal employability programmes have supported almost 14,000 people into work. The Tontine business accelerator has championed new SME start-ups in the heart of Glasgow and the Queen Elizabeth University hospital Imaging Centre of Excellence, a state-of the-art medical research facility, houses the first 7T MRI imagine system in a clinical setting. The Smart Canal, a first in Europe, is a pioneering new surface water drainage system which is helping to unlock 110 hectares across the north of Glasgow for new housing and commercial development.
