A determined mother from Oldham is breaking the mould by securing a job in the construction sector, thanks to local labour in construction initiative, J21, supported by the Oldham Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder.
25 yr-old Kay Mills is currently studying part-time at University Centre Oldham (UCO) and hopes to become a Quantity Surveyor. Kay has secured employment with Oldham based civil engineering contractor Westshield.
Kay, a mother of three, lives in Oldham. She left Counthill School with a desire to make something of herself. She juggled family life with part-time courses and at one point held two jobs at once. She first got interested in construction after completing a six-week course in block paving at The Oldham College.
In 2006, she enrolled on a foundation degree at UCO with the ambition of becoming a Quantity Surveyor. Kay said, “I’m a determined person and wanted to make something of myself and a future for my kids. My partner is 100% behind me and shares the responsibility of raising the family; this allows me to maintain a work-life balance, although studying at the same time is tough.”
“Westshield is a great family firm to work for and with the company celebrating it’s 30th anniversary there are exciting times ahead, I’ve been gaining lots of site experience and doing lots of estimating and pricing, which is giving me valuable experience that I need.”
Kay is currently working on Westshield Homes £3 million flagship development at Woodside Mere, Knutsford - a six-bedroom, 7000 sq. ft. mansion that is one of seven developments ongoing at present. She added, “Hopefully when I complete my course, I’ll move onto the part-time degree and eventually become a construction professional with Westshield.”
Over the past two years, J21 has secured employment for over 100 people and invested over £300,000 on training local residents. Sarfraz Arfan, J21 Manager commented, “The industry is suffering from a skills shortage, in particular at management and technical levels. Given the scale of development due to take place, one of our core objectives is to work in partnership with education establishments and the industry, to identify the future workforce and help them onto the first rung of the career ladder.
Kay is a fine example, she is determined to succeed and it is because of this that J21 did not hesitate to assist her. She’s an inspiration and a role model for others to follow; I wish we had more people of her calibre”.
Andy Sharman, Principal Lecturer at UCO added “The work done by J21 is invaluable; they’ve opened doors for our students that are often difficult to access. Kay fully deserves this opportunity and will reap the benefit of earning, working and learning at the same time, a perfect combination!”