The partnership was launched in October this year, the first site being McTaggart’s Ashfield Street, where they are building 48 new homes for Hawthorn Housing Co-operative. Jobs and training opportunities were advertised around the site and Hawthorn tenants were issued communication about the opportunities by the Co-operative, which resulted in nearly fifty people noting interest.

Through the CashBack for Communities programme, The Wise Group were able to offer eight 16-24 year old’s construction-specific training during a two week programme at their Charlotte Street facility, culminating in a two week work placement on McTaggart’s sites. The four young people who impressed McTaggart’s site management team have been offered full time, permanent jobs within the Group businesses.

Connor McCue, aged 18 from Possilpark, is one of the local young people to secure a job and said: “I’ve been on other employability programmes, but none have been able to offer me a job at the end of my placement. The opportunity with the Wise Group and McTaggart’s has been different, they’ve offered me a lot of support and knowing there’s a real job at the end has pushed me to work hard.”

The Wise Group’s chief executive, Laurie Russell (far-right of picture), added: “It is fantastic to see that the new partnership between the McTaggart Group and the Wise Group had already opened up opportunities for four young people to get access to jobs in the construction sector. There is clearly a huge sense of pride that comes from working on a major regeneration project in your own community. It is even better for the young people that they now have a chance to develop a long-term future with one of the country’s best construction companies.”

McTaggart Group’s managing director, Gary Climson (far-left of picture), said: “We are really delighted with the results from our first project working in partnership with the Wise Group, so far it has exceeded our expectations. Developing a pipeline of young talent to fill roles across our Group of companies is a key business objective. It’s particularly satisfying when we’re able to recruit from the areas we’re building new homes in, as one of our primary aims is to help create sustainable communities.”