Young builders bucking national trend

Jul 1 2009 by Sharon Liptrott, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

A GROUP of young men are flying the flag for the future of the construction industry in the region – and bucking the national trend.

The first 12 trainees undertaking Scottish Vocational Qualifications as part of Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership's £77 million regeneration programme have started their course.

The programme is a successful partnership between DGHP, Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Scottish Government.

And DGHP’s head of regeneration and development, Amanda Yellowley, says it is important that young people are given employment and training opportunities as part of the regeneration.

The trainees attended a special welcome event at the new Dumfries and Galloway College campus, hosted by Amanda, which gave them information about DGHP and the contractors for the regeneration project, R&D Construction Ltd.

Amanda said: “This is a really exciting project and is the result of three years hard work by DGHP and our partners, the Scottish Government, Dumfries and Galloway Council and R&D Construction Ltd.

“It is very important to us, as an organisation, that we maximise training and employment opportunities available through our contractors.

“The regeneration contract with R&D Construction Ltd is by far the biggest and offers a wide range of opportunities to people in Dumfries and Galloway.”

Councillor Ian Carruthers, chairman of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s housing sub-committee, said: “This is a very positive story at a difficult time for the construction industry.

“Regeneration in the priority areas of north west Dumfries and south central Stranraer has always been about more than bricks and mortar.

“While we are rightly proud of the housing that’s being built, the council also wants to improve opportunities for local people.

“The construction of new housing gives young people the chance of gaining employment in the construction industry, at a time when this could otherwise be difficult to achieve.

“This shows how our partnership investment in new housing has economic as well as social impacts.”