News: Morrison open construction academy in Rotherham

Leading repairs and maintenance service provider, Morrison has opened a new training academy for Yorkshire in Rotherham.

The group began a £60.5m contract to maintain council properties last year. The five and a half year deal, with four possible one-year extensions, is to repair and maintain 13,000 properties in Rotherham North, Rotherham South and Wentworth North.

The Academy is located on Thames Street and has been set up in partnership with Rotherham-based Full Circle Learning Ltd, who will deliver the various training courses on behalf of Morrison.

Each year 100 members of the local community will receive training and support through the Morrison Yorkshire Academy to help guide them into employment or in developing new trade based skills. In addition, Morrison's own staff, who work in Leeds and Rotherham, will also receive training to enable them to provide the best level of services to their customers.

Guy Wakeley, Chief Executive of Morrison said: "We are very proud to have officially opened our Yorkshire Academy today, which we hope will make a real difference to local people in Yorkshire. We have been working hard on the development of the Academy with our partner Full Circle Learning Ltd for the past year and it is fantastic to see it now in operation and already achieving results.

"The Academy will serve a dual purpose of targeting the developmental needs of the most vulnerable within the local communities in which we work, whilst offering a multi-skilling service to all Morrison employees in the local area."

Courses being run by the Academy include an Employment Matters programme, which will help local residents develop new skills with the aim of getting them ready for work, as well as a Trade Taster programme which has been designed to help residents gain the confidence and ability to carry out some basic DIY tasks themselves.

The Academy will also train all of Morrison's Yorkshire based apprentices, with this year's intake alone involving the training of 27 young people from Leeds and Rotherham.

The facility, was opened on behalf of Morrison earlier this month by Hayley Taylor, Channel 4's Fairy Jobmother.

Morrison website
Full Circle Learning website

Images: morrisonplc.com