Scaffolders hit the heights

TWO Caithness apprentices have become the first Scots scaffolders to be trained at a state-of-the-art English college, courtesy of the industry’s training body.

Liam Crombie and John Holmes travelled around 600 miles to attend the first of three block scaffolding apprenticeship training programmes far from home at the CITB-Construction Skills’ training college in Norfolk.

Liam (20), from Wick, who works for Caithness Scaffolding Contractors Ltd, and John (28), from Thurso, who works for Donn’s Scaffolding and Steelfixing Ltd, returned last Friday after spending two weeks at the National Construction College (NCC) in King’s Lynn.

The pair were responding to the recent high demand for scaffolders in the north of the country, which has seen the CITB’s Scottish centre fully booked until March next year.
Graeme Ogilvy, Scotland director of the training body, said fully-qualified people working in the sector are at a premium, particularly in the north. READ MORE