Our partnership with Horizon Civil Engineering

Y Prentis and Horizon Civil Engineering Ltd have been working together since March 2019 to provide groundworks opportunities for two apprentices.

Groundworks is a one of the most recent trades to be added to the Y Prentis portfolio following a demand from industry to create more skilled groundworkers in the region. In partnership with ARC Academy, Y Prentis launched the one-year course earlier this year to provide nine apprentices with the opportunity to gain necessary work experience and achieve a Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Construction Operations and Civil Engineering Services.

Darryl Williams, Programme Manager at Y Prentis, said: “I bumped into Horizon’s Managing Director, Jere Burridge, at the RCT Meet The Buyer event in February, and we got talking about apprenticeships. At the time, Y Prentis were about to launch its new groundworks apprenticeships with ARC Academy, and Jere expressed an interested in taking on two apprentices. By the end of March, we had agreed a contract, recruited two apprentice groundworkers, put them through a two-week pre-employment boot camp with ARC Academy and got them started with Horizon.”

Established in 2008, Horizon Civil Engineering Ltd is a successful engineering company based in south Wales. Experience, professionalism and honesty is at the heart of everything the company does, providing its customers with innovative solutions and consistent services within the civil engineering sector. Over the years it has worked with the NHS, fire service, charitable organisations, commercial enterprises and reputable individuals focusing on goals set within the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015.

Since being placed with Horizon, apprentices Ethan Beades and Ethan Wilde have had the opportunity to work on some exciting projects, including several South East Wales Highways Framework contracts that Horizon were awarded in November 2018. This has included a street works project, which aims to improve mobility across 17 sites in Cardiff by installing numerous uncontrolled crossing in different construction forms, and a safer routes into the community project in Pontyclun, which has involved introducing 20mph speed limits, traffic signage, gateways, uncontrolled pedestrian crossings, making footway improvements and the relocation of bus stops.

Both apprentices are mentored by Craig Williams, Team Leader at Horizon Civil Engineering Ltd. He said: “The boys are really good time keepers. They’re always asking questions about how and why we do things a certain way. I also did an apprenticeship, so I always try to do my best to bring them on and explain why we do things the way we do so that they can only improve. They’ve come on loads and their skills are continually getting stronger. We spend a lot of time going through skills, breaking down the different skills they need to do the job and work on developing them. For Horizon, it’s important that we can bring on young people who are willing to learn so that we can teach them the right way.”

Alyson White, Head of Business Development at Horizon Civil Engineering Ltd, said: “As we are CITB registered, we are passionate about civil engineering and want to actively raise the profile of the industry. Both apprentices have started with us during an exciting and challenging time within the civil engineering sector, and as our company grows we’ll continue to work closely with Y Prentis and CECA to develop our apprenticeship intake in the future.”

Meet the apprentices

Ethan Wilde and Ethan Beades are two apprentice groundworkers currently working with Horizon. They have both been studying towards a Level 2 NVQ and Diploma in Construction Operations and Civil Engineering Services and a BTEC Level 2 Diploma in Construction Occupations. Find out what they think about their apprenticeships in their recent blog posts, which you can read here.