With GCSE results out, Willmott Dixon is highlighting the vocational training opportunities it offers young people across the country.

Willmott Dixon Partnerships, the maintenance specialist of Willmott Dixon Group, aims tackle the issue of youth unemployment in the towns and cities where it has contracts, such as Birmingham, London, Burton and Scarborough. The company is responding to a record youth unemployment rate, which has now topped 900,000.

The workforce at Willmott Dixon currently comprises nine per cent of young people aged 16 to 24 who are employed in a variety of roles, with 46 apprentices and 150 management trainees working throughout the business.

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Willmott Dixon does not impose a minimum number of qualifications for applicants for its Opening Doors work experience scheme. The Opening Doors programme, alongside its Building Maintenance Skills programme and Apprentice programme, has given work opportunities to dozens of young people this year alone. People who have been on the Opening Doors programme automatically get an interview for an apprenticeship.

Willmott Dixon's aim is to also attract under-represented groups into the construction and maintenance industries, particularly women, ethnic minorities, disabled persons and vulnerable people who are unemployed or affected by redundancy or business closures in their local area.

Willmott Dixon Partnerships Managing Director, Mick Williamson, said: "We want to look within the communities we serve to identify apprentices and help to give them the best possible start in life, while ensuring that there is no lack of skilled tradespeople in future years. The Opening Doors programme was launched last year to meet the growing demand for work experience placements from local students and jobseekers, and help remove some of the barriers to a route into the construction industry. It has proved an excellent way for young people to get started in our industry."

(CD)