The City of Glasgow College has underlined its commitment to providing employment opportunities to industry apprentices by welcoming the 100th ‘new entrant’ employee to the construction site of their new £228 million supercampus.

Connor Jackson, a former army cadet from Millerston in Paisley who now lives in Shawlands in Glasgow, was employed to help carry out fire prevention measures by Avesta Fire, who are sub-contracted by principle contractors, Sir Robert McAlpine.

He is set to be among more than 170 ‘new entrant’ employees who will get their start in the industry as part of the project’s Community Benefits initiative, which was included in the Project Agreement with Glasgow Learning Quarter (the consortium behind the construction of the project). This commitment ensures wider social and economic benefits result from this public infrastructure project.

Connor, a 20-year-old former Holyrood Secondary School pupil, said: “After being in the army for four years, I wanted to get a trade under my belt and there aren’t many opportunities for people looking to get a start in the industry. I managed to get this apprenticeship after working for Action for Children on a voluntary basis and it has been great. It’s such a large project, which means I’ll be able to gain a wide range of skills and experience that I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.”

Paul Jaffray, Sir Robert McAlpine project manager, said: “I’m delighted that we have now recruited our 100th new entrant employee. It is vital that the next generation of workers are nurtured and given opportunities to learn the skills they need to succeed in the industry, as they are the ones who will be in charge of it in the future.

“Construction is an exciting industry to work in and, due to the scale of this project, our apprentices are being given the chance to carry out a broad range of work, which will stand them in good stead for gaining employment in the future.”

Janis Carson, City of Glasgow College vice principal and project sponsor of the new campus construction, endorsed the ambitious ‘new entrant’ strategy.

She said: “The re-development of the college estate on these prime city sites has allowed us the unique opportunity of two real-life learning environments in the shape of our construction sites. Our own students have benefited greatly from first-hand quality education and training experiences alongside the fantastic boost to the local economy that a major construction project brings.

“I am delighted at the progress that our partners, Sir Robert McAlpine, and consortium GLQ are making towards achieving this new employment target and welcome the milestone achievement of our 100th new entrant employee. I wish Connor well with this exciting opportunity.”

The new supercampus at City of Glasgow College is understood to be one of the largest college education campuses in Europe and will accommodate 1200 members of staff and up to 40,000 students each year. The Riverside phase of the development, set on the banks of the River Clyde, will open in August, while the City site, in the city centre on Cathedral Street, is set to open one year later. Construction has been funded using Scottish Government’s Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) financing model.