City Building’s instructors are seeing double with this year’s intake of modern apprentices, thanks to twins being amongst the talented group.

Apprentice joiners Vittorio and Santino Pelosi, 18, are just two of the 58 modern apprentices who recently completed their induction period at City Building’s Queenslie Training Centre, with a number now starting to get their first taste of work on the job.

The group is possibly the most diverse intake in City Building’s 10-year history, with over 10 of the team being either female, a care leaver or self-identified as a minority ethnicity.

Vittorio and Santino, who were born and brought up in Glasgow, had previously been considering a career in hospitality. Their parents own Sonny and Vito’s, an Italian style deli and cafe in Glasgow’s west end, and the brothers have long been involved in the family business.

The twins changed their minds after finding out about City Building’s apprenticeships through a career event at their secondary school, St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

City Building’s apprenticeships are highly sought after, with the variety of disciplines on offer including: electrical engineering, joinery, painting and decorating, plumbing and carpentry. The scheme also allows the apprentices to earn a number of SVQs (Scottish Vocational Qualifications) and earn the Glasgow Living wage, dependent on age.

Santino said: “My brother and I have always done everything together – we worked together in our parents’ café, we go to the gym together and we go out together – and even though we didn’t intend to find a job together we were both impressed by the opportunities available at City Building.

“We’re both enjoying our apprenticeships and it’s great that we can go home and talk to each other about our jobs.

“At first, people did a bit of a double take, but now that the instructors and staff at City Building have got to know us they don’t find it difficult to tell us apart. As far as I’m concerned, it’s quite easy - I’m the good looking one!”

Since City Building was founded 10 years ago it has provided a total of 1,102 apprenticeships since 2007, with 94 per cent of apprentices completing their training compared with an industry average of 75 per cent.

Dr Graham Paterson, executive director at City Building, said: “Vittorio and Santino are the first set of twins we’ve had in our apprenticeship programme so it will be interesting to see whether sibling rivalry pushes them to succeed even more at their chosen trade.

“We’re proud of the standard of apprentices that we produce, and we’re confident that both brothers will get their joinery careers off to a flying start with City Building.”