Our South West Wales Onsite Hub has partnered with the Copper Foundation, Tai Tarian’s employment initiative, to provide even more candidates with the opportunity of a first step towards a career in construction.

Tai Tarian is one of the largest social housing providers in Wales, owning over 9,000 properties across the Neath Port Talbot County Borough. Its Copper Foundation initiative was founded in the summer of 2017 to help people struggling to find a route back into employment.

The scheme provides successful candidates with a 12-month contract to work on Tai Tarian’s external improvement programme, repairing and replacing fences, paths, walls and gates across its communities.

It also provides training support and guidance throughout the year – including the Onsite Hub 10-day work experience placement – as a way of giving candidates the best possible chance of securing full-time work once the contract ends.

Since the scheme was launched, the foundation has given opportunities to 75 individuals working on around 600 properties across Neath Port Talbot.

As part of their Onsite Hub placement, the initiative’s seven latest recruits – all hailing from the Sandfields area of Port Talbot – were given a week’s training, co-ordinated by us here at Cyfle Building Skills, which included health and safety awareness, the CSCS test, and employability training.

As always, upon successful completion of their 10-day work experience placement, each candidate received a toolkit for their chosen trade, along with a £200 training allowance.

Rhys Fisher, our Onsite Hub Training Co-ordinator, said:

“The opportunity that the Copper Foundation and CITB’s Onsite Hub have created for these candidates is exemplar, with each candidate being more employable after undertaking the programme. The toolkits and attendance allowance are the short-term gain, whereas the bigger picture is the employment opportunities that follow, if successful.”

Rhys Bowen, one of the Copper Foundation’s new recruits, added:

“I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into working with the Copper Foundation. It’s a great opportunity to further myself, learn new skills, and gain valuable site experience.

“I’ll mainly be working in the area near where I live and helping to enhance its appearance, so it is something I’m really looking forward to.

“We’ve already done some health and safety training and it’s been a great experience so far, working with a great bunch of people and learning loads.”

Nick Cope, Head of Capital Investment, Tai Tarian, said:

“We are delighted to welcome another seven members to the Copper Foundation, and without the CITB Onsite Experience we would not have had a true reflection of each candidate.

“The project is all about giving people a great experience of the world of work and over the next 12 months they will undergo numerous training courses and play a huge part in improving the external and internal areas of our properties.”