Think Sandwell has worked closely with Kier Living since it started building homes in Sandwell four years ago. Kier Living is part of Kier Group plc, a leading property, residential, construction and services group.

The group operates across a range of sectors, including defence, education, housing, industrials, power, transport and utilities. It employs over 21,000 people in its operations across the UK, the Middle East, Australia and Hong Kong.

The group is split into four key operating divisions – Kier Property, Kier Residential, Kier Construction and Kier Services. Kier Residential, known as Kier Living, brings together all of Kier’s house building operations from contracting and mixed tenure housing to private sector housing.

In conjunction with Sandwell Council Kier Living has been creating construction employment and training opportunities for young people in Sandwell since 2013. The company works closely with Sandwell Council Housing and Think Sandwell’s area employment team to ensure that community benefits are recognised at the heart of the communities that it develops.

Daniel Williams from Oldbury is just one Sandwell student whose work experience opportunity with Kier Living turned into an apprenticeship.

Daniel, 19, was near to completing his craft diploma in brickwork at Sandwell College and was looking for practical work experience.  Think Sandwell sourced a one week work experience opportunity with Kier Living at a construction site at Tibbington Terrace in Tipton, where 29 homes were being built.

The work experience gave Daniel the opportunity to showcase his skills and also his determination and willingness to do his best.  Kier Living’s early careers manager Abdul Mozzamdar and the site manager David Norris agreed that Daniel had something worth investing in and offered him a Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship in bricklaying.

Daniel said: “This is a brilliant opportunity for me to learn and earn with on the job training.”

After achieving his Level 2 qualification Daniel hopes to gain a Level 3 with the hope that it will lead into construction management.

Michael Wragg, area employment advisor and mentor to Daniel said: “This is a great start to a brilliant career ahead of Daniel and we look forward to following Daniel’s journey to help inspire other young people who want to join the industry.”

Abdul Mozzamdar commented: “Daniel is a testament to young men and women that hard work and perseverance pays off. Daniel joined us on a week’s work experience placement organised by Sandwell Council, he did so well that we offered him an additional week which Daniel accepted without hesitation. The sub-contractor partner that Daniel worked with complimented Daniel’s work ethic and dedication. We had already employed the maximum number of apprentices for our Tibbington Terrace project, but as we were so impressed with Daniel we decided to offer him an apprenticeship position with Kier Living Central.”

Congratulations Daniel! If you have a good news story that you’d like to share please contact us via our Contact page. For information about apprenticeships, recruitment or training visit our Recruitment and Training page.