Astins Institute launches with all-women apprenticeship

London-based specialist fit-out firm Astins has launched a £1m training facility with the UK's first all-women apprenticeship.

The launch comes despite a nationwide crisis in construction training, which has seen 2,000 apprentices laid off mid-way though their courses.

Six women, all under the age of 28, will undertake a qualification in dry-lining at the Institute over the next 12 weeks. They are part of an intake of 36 Astins apprentices over the next two years, all of whom are guaranteed jobs at the end of their training.

The scheme is guided by an advisory panel, which includes Laing O'Rourke, Waitrose, and the Learning and Skills Council.

Dominic Tutt, joint managing director of the £25m-a-year turnover subcontractor, told CJ that the Astins Institute was already in talks with the Olympic Delivery Authority and Carillion to bring other workers into the Institute for training.

Tutt, who said that Astins had made a "substantial" investment in the venture, alongside funding from ConstructionSkills and the Learning and Skills Council, said: "This business will be self-financing within five years. We are really looking to grow people for the long-term. I want them to have careers with Astins."

And he added that he was not worried about launching the Institute in tough economic times: "Good business is good business, irrespective of the times we find ourselves in," he said.

Sir Michael Latham, who officially opened the facility said: "Construction businesses are having to ask themselves tough commercial questions. Many are seeing cutting back on training as a possible way of saving money. That is why it is so encouraging to see companies like Astins with a genuine commitment to employing, developing and maintaining the best talent.

"More than 2,000 people are in the unfortunate position of being laid-off midway through their training progress and find themselves unqualified and out of work."