A local company is celebrating its first batch of graduates from a unique in-house apprenticeship programme recently launched to give staff the chance of new skills and qualifications.
Award winning Ballyclare firm The Landscape Centre treated 28 staff to a special lunch and certificate presentation to mark their success in completing their City and Guilds Level 1 in horticultural skills.
The company has 180 staff going through the in house training course which will give them the benefits of formal qualifications while acquiring skills in plant identification, maintaining amenity grass areas, pruning and maintenance of shrubs and hedges as well as safe use and operation of plant and machinery.
Managing director Steven Thompson said: “We have always provided a lot of training and felt that the City and Guilds programme provided an excellent framework under which we could deliver effective and job related training.
“Our staff has appreciated the opportunity to acquire formal qualifications and we currently have 180 individuals signed up for the course which we are delivering in-house.
“We have also extended the scheme to include those employed in the Steps to Work Programme so that they can receive training in various modules when they are with us, additionally the increased skills across the workforce allows us to maintain the quality of our work and service to our customers.”
The Landscape Centre, which provides an all Ireland service to both the public and private sectors and also operates in the North of England, launched the scheme last year in line with its ethos of ‘continually creating opportunities for career progression and personal development’.
Founded in 1980, the firm has grown to become one of Ireland’s leading landscape contractors, providing a high quality service through partnership frameworks to developers, corporate clients, local authorities and the domestic market.