The homebuilder, who build mainly affordable housing, will deliver up to 55 positions for young people across the central belt of Scotland as a partner of the scheme.

The Kickstart Scheme is a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality six-month work placements aimed at those aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment.

The majority of the opportunities will be within McTaggart Construction, the main contracting business of the group who currently have nearly 1,500 new homes on site, over 90% of which are for housing associations and councils in some of the most disadvantaged areas in Scotland.

Gary Climson, McTaggart’s managing director, said: “Given our focus on delivering affordable housing, we make a commitment to our clients and their local communities at the start of each project to deliver benefits beyond bricks and mortar. The Kickstart Scheme allows us to take that commitment even further and offer young people a more optimistic future.”

Ross Hammell, McTaggart Construction’s sustainable communities programme manager, added: “McTaggart has been at the forefront of generating youth employment opportunities in construction for several years now. Kickstart affords employers like us the ability to double down on this commitment.”

The young people who secure a place with McTaggart will receive a personal development plan, on-site experience and mentoring from the team.

Opportunities will be advertised via Jobcentre Plus.