3
PRO INSTALLER APRIL 2014
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
Ryan aims to be
Britain’s best
bricklayer!
A Shrewsbury College student studying
Brickwork has just competed in the SkillBuild
National Final and has been selected as one
of the top seven bricklayers in the country.
Ryan Stevens, 19, of Shawbirch,
Telford, (pictured) is just completing
his NVQ Level 3 Apprenticeship at
Shrewsbury College, having started
in the 14-16 programme and completed his Levels 1 and 2. Although he
didn’t win any prizes when he competed at the NEC SkillBuild National
Final in November, judges were so
impressed by Ryan’s expertise that
he was chosen as a potential candidate to represent the UK at bricklaying after getting a high enough score
from the panel.
Following the competition, Ryan has just
returned from a trip to Loughborough University where he was selected as one of the
top seven bricklayers in the country by the
UK World Skills Bricklaying team. Now he
has a year of training ahead of him with the
squad. Members will take part in competitions throughout the year to test their skills
and be eliminated until just three are left.
Ryan, who is completing his Apprenticeship with Craig Chetwood Building Contractors in Wrockwardine, said: “I have to keep
working hard for the next year and improving my skills. Three people will be selected
at the end of this process as a squad, but
only one person will actually go to the competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil to represent the
UK in August 2015.
“My employer is giving me time off
to train. To get to Brazil would mean
everything to me. I would be representing
£100K Investment For
Expanding Sunderland
Roof Truss Manufacturer
A Sunderland manufacturer of roof trusses for
the construction industry is investing £100k
in new equipment as it
expands thanks to an
upturn in the housing
market.
‘will radically
increase its
capacity’
the country, which would be an amazing
honour and experience, and I think it
would really help my career. I don’t think I
would be in this position without the help
of Shrewsbury College.”
Brickwork Lecturer, Steven Thomas, said:
“Ryan is a credit to the College.
“We now invite Ryan into the College to
help coach younger students and help them
towards competitions. We will be rooting
for him as he takes part in tasks over the
next year or so with the UK Bricklaying
team and we hope he makes it all the way
to Brazil.”
www.shrewsbury.ac.uk
The Fencehouse Truss
Company is adding a
40-tonne press to its
truss-making equipment and
is creating additional jobs to
operate the machinery.
The fresh investment, just
18 months after the firm
spent £70k on a smaller
press, will radically increase
its capacity.
The business was set up
in a purpose-built factory
at Houghton-le-Spring five
years ago and has grown
Darlington’s Northgate Eye Up
Further Expansion In London
Darlington-headquartered van hire firm
Northgate plc are planning to open between
four to six sites in the
London area, in the next
six months.
The national hire firm say
business has increased over
the last five months, and the
seasonal dip at Christmas
was reduced as new sites
performed ahead of expectations.
Northgate, who have
opened six new hire sites
since February, grew the
number of vehicles on hire
by nearly 2,000 during the
period between November
2013 and March 2014.
In the firm’s Spanish busi-
ness the number of vehicles
on hire has fallen during
the five month period, but
increased overall since April
2013.
Underlying hire revenue-per-rented-vehicle fell
1% in comparison to the
last financial year although
Northgate say the reduction
has been mitigated by an
despite starting trading during one of the most difficult
periods the construction
industry has ever faced.
Steve Harris, who runs
Fencehouse Truss with
co-directors Steven Brown
and Steve Cauwood, said:
“We haven’t known anything different to the recession. We built the factory
from scratch and set up as
the recession had started.
“But from our point of
view, this is the best start of
the year we’ve ev