Bradford Estates looks to expand team of apprentices

The estate plays home to numerous long-standing tenant farmers, businesses, leisure businesses, residential properties, commercial units and 1,500 acres of managed woodlands, which requires a dedicated team of staff to help maintain the area, many of who are employed from the local area.

The building team from the estate has announced it is currently looking for an apprentice plumber to join the ranks, while plans are also underway to recruit another apprentice electrician.

The aim is that these apprentices will learn their trade and go on to become a vital part of the estate’s workforce.

One success story on the estate, which sits on the Shropshire border close to the M54, is that of full-time electrician Ben Lee, who joined as an apprentice back in 2015 as a teenager.

“I was never especially academic at school and have always wanted to work in a job where I could use my hands and practically get involved,” said Ben, now 23.

“I had always wanted to be either a plumber or an electrician. After leaving school I completed a Level 2 electrician course at college, and at that point I had the choice of either continuing in the classroom or doing an apprenticeship with Bradford Estates and learn my trade on the job.”

Mr Lee believes his onsite education under senior electrician Neil Stokes helped him progress much quicker in his career then if he would have been solely classroom-based.

“There have been loads of different situations and problems crop up that you just would not see or be able to learn from out of a book in a classroom,” he said. “For me learning on the job has been so beneficial.”

It is success stories such as Ben’s that has made the estate’s managing director, Alexander Newport, passionate about training and development of staff.

He said: “Watching staff grow from inexperienced young tradesmen to accomplished professionals is something that gives us, as an employer, a great deal of pride.

“We are looking to take on more apprentices. This will be of benefit not just to the individual, but also to the wider estate as we look to make sure we have the very best team we can to manage and maintain this vast and varied business.”

Anyone interested in learning more about apprenticeship opportunities at Bradford Estates can visit its Facebook page by searching ‘BradfordEstatesUK’.