Kier funds upskilling at Fieldway

The construction company, Kier, have donated funds from their Apprenticeship Levy to one of their supply-chain partners, Fieldway, in order to train two of their employees up to management positions through an apprenticeship programme, becoming the first company to make such an investment in the city of Liverpool.

Fieldway are an electrical contractor based within the city and received the funding after Kier has made moves to tackles skills related issues in the construction sector.

The Managing Director at Kier Regional Building North West, Peter Commins stated: “We are thrilled to have been the first contractor in Liverpool to able to transfer some of our apprenticeship levy. Fieldway is a valued supply chain partner of ours and we have worked with them on a number of projects, most recently at the enabling works for Shakespeare North.

“Having the ability to support not only the upskilling and training of our employees, but of our supply chain employees is something I’m really proud of and I look forward to continuing to support both local apprentices in our region and the construction industry generally through the use of unspent levy.”

The Managing Director of Fieldway, Tony Carden added: “Identifying managers is important but SMEs don’t always have the funds to support them and that’s where the levy transfer comes in.

“We look at our staff development from the point of view of getting our new staff qualified in their specialist areas so they can work on site. What Kier and Sysco have done is enable us to take our training opportunities to the next level and we now have clear progression routes to management for established staff in our organisation.”

Kier, in September 2018, even took part in a meeting at the Liverpool Town Hall, to discuss the skills crisis, which is currently plaguing the sector, with the Metropolitan Mayor, Steve Rotherham.

The Business Development Manager at Sysco, Becky Dutton concluded: “For the Liverpool City Region to deliver it’s aspiration of 20,000 new apprenticeships each year by 2020, more levy paying employers need to consider transferring levy funds and supporting their supply chain.

“Kier have given Fieldway the opportunity to develop future leaders within its business, ensuring they have leadership with skills and knowledge needed to continue to prosper.”

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