This National Careers Week, the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) has reaffirmed its commitment to creating employment in the Kirklees area as colleagues attended the Kirklees College Skills and Apprenticeships Fair in Dewsbury.
A key part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade’s sustainability strategy – Our Guiding Compass – is to create 4,000 new roles and safeguard another 4,000 jobs during construction across the entire route, of which 20% will be from underrepresented groups to create a diverse team that reflects the communities in which we work.
The strategy also outlines plans to ensure that 60% of the project workforce are employed from within 25 miles of the route and 80% within 40 miles.
The event is organised in partnership with Mark Eastwood MP, who said: “Promoting apprenticeships and getting people on the employment ladder as an alternative to a university degree is a key priority of mine as the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury.
“I’m delighted that TRU were in attendance at my Skills and Apprenticeships Fair last week. The Transpennine Route Upgrade will create jobs and employment for thousands of people, many potentially coming from my constituency.”
Another aim of the programme is to take on 590 apprentices, and we’re fast approaching the halfway mark with over 260 already on board. 44 of them are from West Yorkshire alone, with events such as this one in Dewsbury a unique opportunity to talk to local students at an important stage of their career decision-making process.
Karl Wilson, TRU Social Value Coordinator, said: “Our Social Value team visits local schools, colleges and universities to promote apprenticeships. Part of our job is to offer work experience to students and talk about the wide range of jobs available on a project such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade.”
The incredible work that the TRU Social Value team does enables the programme to reach people we may have otherwise not reached – by 2035, we aim to have delivered over 30,000 placement days to support new entrants joining the industry, pre-employment, transitioning and upskilling of which a minimum of 20% will be from underrepresented groups.
