One of the country’s leading development and building companies is working with Croydon College, local charities and not-for-profits to offer apprenticeships and work experience opportunities that are life-changing
Roll out the barrow: Louis Bienaime hard at work in the community as part of his role with Wates
The life of Louis Bienaime is an example of how to start creating a successful career and help others, despite the odds against.
An appearance before the court, uncertainty over employment and limited outlook nearly took Bienaime, who is 23 and from East Croydon, down a very dark path. But Bienaime has turned his life around and is now helping others improve their lives as part of his role as a customer services apprentice at Wates, on the housing maintenance contract for Croydon Council.
After his brush with the courts two years ago, Bienaime’s family pointed him towards taking the Construkt course run by Serious About Youth.
Construkt focuses on those aged 16 to 25 years old from black, asian and minority backgrounds, particularly those not in education, employment or training. It provides individuals like Bienaime with pathways into the construction industry and engineering careers, builds confidence, teaches team working, and in the case of those choosing a career in building, CSCS card training – a CSCS card is necessary to be able to work on a construction site.
The course also helps individuals secure apprenticeships, permanent employment and work experience, and has resulted in positive outcomes for more than 75% of participants.
Wates, one of the country’s leading development, building and property maintenance companies, has a significant business presence in Croydon having been appointed by the Government Property Agency to carry out the fit-out of 2 Ruskin Square, at East Croydon, the new 10-storey office block for the Home Office.
Other community activities by Wates include mock interviews with Croydon Careers, offering work experience to a T-Level student at the Ruskin Square site, as well as mentoring young people through another Croydon youth charity, Lives Not Knives, to provide workplace advice.
Bienaime joined the Construkt course at Croydon College, which is sponsored by Wates Group. It changed his life.
It gave him the confidence, knowledge, skills and ambition to work in the construction sector and trained him in how to work collaboratively in a positive team environment alongside others. It also teaches planning, including practical exercises such as producing the technical as well as engineering elements involved in producing tenders.
A key part the Construkt programme also involves preparing individuals for what comes after the course, including writing a CV and interview skills. Bienaime credits this aspect of the course with giving him the confidence to tackle the jobs market, which again was made easier because another ingredient of the course is arranging for prospective employers to attend an end-of-course social.
As a course sponsor, and because Wates has a hands-on approach to social and community projects it supports in Croydon and elsewhere, the course was visited by Jamie Clancy-Toomey, social value manager at Wates. This is where she and Bienaime first met and it could have been their only encounter. But thanks to Rommell Wallace, co-founder of Serious About Youth, who had become a trusted mentor to those on the course, it was not.
Come the get-together, and Bienaime was still nervous enough in social gatherings to have second thoughts about even going in. “But Rommell told me I needed to,” Bienaime said.
“He said I needed to put myself forward in front of those who were offering apprenticeships. He told me nobody could do it for me. So I went, and I met Jamie again, and the result is me now working for Wates.”
At least three others have done the same course and undertaken work experience with Wates, with the potential for a further internship or employment. The benefit to individuals is clear, but it also benefits the local community and economy.
Success story: Jamie Clancy-Toomey, social value manager at Wates, with Louis Bienaime
As a customer services apprentice, Bienaime’s primary role is to liaise with the council in the delivery of Wates’ housing maintenance services. It involves working with a wide range of people and organisations to ensure services are provided to standard and on time. It means constant learning. No two days are the same.
“One of the great things about the job is the variety,” Bienaime says. “One minute I can be speaking with suppliers, the next it can be liaising with someone in a council department.”
A key part of the job is helping to implement social value programmes run by Wates in Croydon, including supporting students in work experience, helping the elderly with digital skills, community building projects and planting allotments. “I’m in a great position to help others. Because of my experiences I can relate to people in ways that helps them, and allows them to find the right direction.”
Bienaime recognises his life could be very different were it not for the help of his family, from Wates and the influence of Rommell Wallace as an influential mentor.
Bienaime says that there are opportunities for young people, but you have to make the most of them, be bold in a positive way, and be prepared to get noticed for the right reasons. “Others cannot do it for you.”
Clancy-Toomey says, “Wates provides a range of opportunities for young people. We provide finance for courses, plus support in other ways. There are opportunities out there created by Serious About Youth and others, but when it comes down to it, young people have to put themselves out there.”
Wallace says that more can be done to support young people to bring forward talent that would otherwise be lost. The number of Construkt courses is restricted by the number of companies willing to support them. Yet there is a skills shortage across the country, at a time when government policy is to encourage a boom in construction.
“Wates is really active in what it does, as are others,” Wallace says, “but we do need more support. If every company in the construction sector did just a little bit it would make a very big difference.
As for Louis Bienaime, he’s optimistic about his future, but he is taking nothing for granted, and is looking forward to helping others as well as himself.
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
