MG Contractors

Coleford, Gloucester

Michael Gwilliam

Director

Every career has to have the right foundations – and Ian James’s are stronger than most because he’s built them himself.

Now a qualified bricklayer with MG Contractors in Coleford, Gloucestershire, Ian has also built himself a national reputation as one of Britain’s best brickies.

In a highly-competitive industry, that’s quite a distinction – and Ian says he couldn’t possibly have done it without the support of the Royal Forest of Dean College and the apprenticeship he served at MG Contractors.

“The college were absolutely excellent, and so supportive,” says Ian, who was one of 15 bricklayers from all over the UK who took part in the National Skill Build Final 2008, an intense competition held over three gruelling days in Leeds.

In his first year of representing the college in the brickwork section he achieved third place in the new entrant junior section, and in the seniors he came second.

“If the college hadn’t pushed me I wouldn’t have achieved those things,” he says. “They’re really brilliant. I also got the qualifications, and that’s something no-one can take away from you.

“I’d recommend apprenticeships to anyone.”

Someone who echoes that is Michael Gwilliam, a director of M G Contractors.

“Ian was on an apprenticeship but the company he was with went bankrupt,” he says. “We gave him a chance to continue and finish his college studies.

“He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen go through an apprenticeship. Ian’s success is a great thing to see and it makes the company very proud.”

He’s a keen advocate of apprenticeships, and praises the college for being extremely helpful and flexible in their support for his company and for Ian.

“I was given an apprenticeship and that’s made me a firm believer in it,” he says. “It’s all very well to go to school with paper qualifications but there’s nothing to beat the real world.

“We need people we can coach through their career to encourage them to become the new foremen to run our new sites. It’s a big position of trust to put someone into. Mistakes on a site can cost tens of thousands of pounds – or even lives.

“We need to replenish our labour force all the time as people move on or out of the area. So apprenticeships are good for the boys and good for business.”

Royal Forest of Dean College