Luxury housebuilder, Charles Church Southern, gave a determined Christopher Weir a chance to shine by offering him an exclusive four year apprenticeship after he left Sandhurst Secondary School in 2010.
Despite being unsure of his preferred career path when leaving school, Christopher was determined to be the best in his field and impressed bosses at the property firm with his determination. He is now half way through the ‘construction in the built environment’ programme with the company’s regional office, Camberley.
Speaking of his apprenticeship, 18 year old Christopher said: “Two years ago I had no idea where I was heading in my life, now I have a great career ahead of me.
“My aim was to always gain hands-on experience as well as a qualification. At Charles Church Southern, I have not only been able to achieve this so far but I have been supported all the way through.
“I have gained great life learning skills, from coordinating your own site to independence and team work.
“Every day brings new challenges, experiences and responsibilities which is why I love the job so much. I am extremely proud to be working for Persimmon and hopefully one day I’ll be managing my own site.”
Christopher achieved a Distinction in each of the elements of his course which included health, safety and welfare, building regulations, sustainable construction as well as mathematics, science surveying, building technology estimating and tendering specifically in construction and the build environment.
Chris is now working towards a HNC in Construction and the Built Environment while completing a NVQ in construction.
Tracey Lee, sales director of Persimmon Homes Southern, said: “Apprenticeships are a proven way of bringing people through our organisation and offers exciting opportunities to young people in the local community.
“Over the last two years Christopher has really proved how motivated and driven he is about the construction industry. He will go very far!
“We believe it is very important to create opportunities for the future generations in our industry, We will continue to invest in their training and career development to ensure that they stay with the business and go on to become our senior managers of tomorrow.”