Gateshead housebuilder Robertson Homes North East teams up with Peterlee's East Durham College to launch apprenticeship partnership

The housebuilder has organised a panel of its supply chain partner companies, covering joinery, brickwork, electrical, plumbing and decorating, to visit the college as guest lecturers.

Robertson Homes has also worked closely with the college to support the development of a teaching curriculum which reflects the modern construction industry.

Ultimately, the scheme called Developing Futures aims to generate six new apprentice positions every year for college students, who will be given experience of working on Robertson Homes developments in the North East as part of their learning.

Andy Dodds, regional director at Robertson Homes, said: “There are excellent career opportunities in the construction industry and we wanted to give young people from East Durham the chance to gain experience and learn from our panel of highly skilled trades professionals.

“Apprenticeships represent the best way of unearthing the next generation of construction industry talent and the combination of quality teaching from East Durham College and mentoring from Robertson Homes’ panel will give students opportunities to forge successful and rewarding construction careers.”

Part of the Robertson Group which can trace its roots back to 1966, Robertson Homes has been building new homes in the North East of England since 1999 and has launched new developments of family homes for sale at Bowes Manor, in Burnopfield, Lionfields at Lambton Park and Wynyard Woods at the Wynyard Estate.

Joining Robertson Homes’ Developing Futures project are Fusion Joinery, PJS Brickwork, DJR Smith Electricians, P Bertram Decorating and Lorne Stewart Engineering.

Scott Bullock, principal and chief executive of East Durham College, said: “I am thrilled to launch the Developing Futures project alongside Robertson Homes.

“Thanks to our new partnership with Robertson and our other supporting partners, this is a very exciting time to get started in the construction industry for our students.

"The Developing Futures project will do just that; it’ll give our students more opportunities to get started in their future careers, and that’s what the learning experience is all about here at East Durham College.

"We can’t wait to see the exciting places our students go to thanks to this project.”

The first students on the Developing Futures programme begin their courses this month with the first apprentices due to be appointed in July 2025.