Shufflebottom celebrates the end of Finlay Allen’s apprenticeship

Apprenticeships matter to us every day of the year at Shufflebottom and are at the core of our Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) and business model. In our almost 50 years of manufacturing and delivering steel-framed buildings and structural steel for the industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors across the UK and beyond, we have learned the positive impacts apprenticeships make:

• to individuals and their skills’ development

• to the local community

• to the future employment pipeline

• to the wider Wales and UK economy

We therefore continue to forge links with the local community to encourage young people to consider a future in the steel-framed buildings’ sector. We always welcome talented young individuals eager to embark on their apprenticeship journey.

It makes sound economic sense that those who come to us as apprentices will learn the skills and knowledge that will enable them to have a rewarding individual career, and that as a manufacturing business, we are equipped with future-ready skills.

Once such talented individual who has just completed an apprenticeship with us here at Shufflebottom is 24-year-old, Finlay Allen. Finlay from Llanllawddog, and a current student at Coleg Sir Gar has been here for 3 years working under the stewardship of Eddie Roche, General Foreman, a long-standing and respected member of our #teamof steel. On the factory floor, Finlay has been working alongside other apprentices we have at the moment (5 in total) being mentored in the skills he will need as a fully-fledged welder fabricator. Finlay is proof on the ground of what a successful, and completed apprenticeship looks like. We think the benefits he has gained are worth sharing:

• hands-on training in the hands of our qualified experts

• newly learned skills put into practice in a real work environment

• confidence development

• upskilling at all ages

• earning money while training

• offering a foot in the door to a future employer

Importantly, Shufflebottom benefits too, in that we know our apprentices; we are training and developing them the Shufflebottom way in a specific steel-manufacturing context; and, we can be confident of the quality of the skills they are developing under our wing.

We have recently enshrined our belief in the value of apprenticeships, by becoming a member of the 5% club an industry-led initiative focused on driving momentum into the recruitment of apprentices, attracting new talent, and looking at ways to attract the next generation of talent and developing them along meaningful career paths.

We wish Finlay well in the next stages of his career journey, here at Shufflebottom Ltd where we hope he stays for many years. We’d also like to thank Eddie Roche who, as ever, guided Finlay with experience and patience through this important period of his career.