Lisa
We first met Lisa at the London Academy of Sustainable Construction (LASC) in Walthamstow last year supporting their Jobsfest.
The event was a great success, we met Lisa, an impressive young plumbing apprentice. She wanted to know if we could help her complete her gas portfolio by providing her with some work experience and access to items she was struggling with.
Our Pipeline to Employment programme was created exactly for this purpose, to identify emerging talent at local careers events, in order to help them succeed in their chosen career path.
Lisa impressed our Social Value Manager, Rachel Statter, with her maturity, positive friendly personality and attitude. Her extensive knowledge and commitment to excelling in her apprenticeship, she not only agreed to provide support with work experience placements, she also reached out to our Domestic Gas Manager, so see if there was potential to offer Lisa a gas apprenticeship with us.
Whilst we did not have any existing opportunities available, our Manager agreed to interview Lisa. Following a successful interview, we were delighted to create an apprenticeship and offer Lisa a place with the Aston Group team.
We believe that it is essential to recognise outstanding local candidates who exhibit great potential and quality, we try to support them where possible.
Lisa accepted our offer and in her 2nd week of employment with Aston Group, returned with Rachel, an Electrical Apprentice and Sustainability Project Engineer, Matt, to the green themed LASC JobsFest as our latest ambassadors to provide information to attendees on careers within the built environment.
It was fantastic to be able to showcase how our Pipeline to Employment initiative works in reality with Lisa speaking about her experience.
Lisa attending the Careers Fair at the London Academy of Sustainable Construction
Lisa won a manufacturers fault finding competition after being invited to represent Waltham Forest College as an outstanding student. Multiple companies attended to see if students could find issues within incorrectly installed fixtures on a plumbing circuit.
The awards ceremony was help at the Society of Public Health Engineer’s annual event following the regional college competition that took place. The event was to showcase the work that has been done in the industry that contributes to public health. Lisa was presented with the Chris Sneath Bursary award.
Lisa winning the fault finding competition at Waltham Forest College
“It was really good to represent the college and Aston Group whilst being there!”
Lisa picking up an award at the Society of Public Health Engineer’s annual event
Lisa has been invited to speak on a pale at the 'Women in Construction in Leadership' Event at the RAC in Pall Mall. She is invited to talk about her career and her role then get her perspective on the importance of women in leadership in the construction industry. She has been invited to speak about the main barriers that she has faced as a women whilst progressing her career and highlight the key priorities that she thinks need to be addressed in order for more women to reach the top of the industry
How's it all going?
Lisa is working towards her apprenticeship, in the image below, she is commissioning hot and cold mains water as well as central heating to test the heating and hot and cold water systems are working correctly. She is using temperature sensors and flow rate devices.
This year I've spent time with the engineers learning about domestic heating and gas systems which has broadened my knowledge and understanding within the plumbing industry. I have a mixture of install and breakdown experience so it has varied throughout the year. The next phase for me is to start my gas portfolio and become qualified.