Barrett homes apprentice of the year.

Apprentice bricklayer Reece Hall is laying the foundations for a successful career after scooping two awards.
Reece, aged 17, from Wallsend, has been named Apprentice of the Year by leading housebuilder Barratt North East.
The accolade came after he beat hundreds of entrants to be crowned the North East Young Apprentice of the Year in the National Apprenticeship Service awards.
Reece, who joined Barratt last September, was presented with the Barratt award by Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell, who is campaigning to increase the number of apprenticeships through a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament.
She was visiting The Leazes development in Throckley where Barratt is building new homes in partnership with Your Homes Newcastle (YHN).
She said: “It’s a fantastic achievement by Reece. He goes to Newcastle College which is one of the great apprenticeship providers in the city.
“The great thing about apprenticeships is that you get skills for life. When you’ve completed an apprenticeship you have all that experience and can walk into a job.”
Reece was assessed on all aspects of his work including attitude, commitment and college results to win the Barratt award. He works on site at the Elba Park development in Houghton-le-Spring and attends Newcastle College one day a week.
He said: “I love the job, it’s great experience and I enjoy the crack on site. My apprenticeship has given me a fantastic career opportunity. I’ve gained new skills and am learning more all the time and feel like a really valued member of the team at Barratt.”
Mike Roberts, Managing Director of Barratt North East said: “Reece has done exceptionally well to win these two awards.
“I am sure he will make good progress and hopefully we’ll see him in years to come collecting the Site Manager of the Year Award!”
He added: “Apprentice training has proved to be a sound investment. In the long run it is clearly more beneficial to have a well-trained and well-motivated staff.
“There are excellent career prospects for those completing their training successfully and many of our senior managers began their careers as apprentices.”
Barratt North East currently employs 17 apprentices. Nationally the Barratt Group has the largest apprenticeship programme in the industry and despite the downturn in the market has 145 apprentices across the UK.

Catherine McKinnell was also visiting The Leazes to view the 81 homes being built by Barratt and YHN, which is responsible for managing council homes on behalf of Newcastle City Council.
The MP, whose grandfather Michael Grady’s construction firm built hundreds of homes in Newcastle, said: “We need more good quality, affordable housing for rent and sale and I’m very impressed by what I’ve seen here. The development is sympathetic to its surroundings and I’m also impressed with the energy efficient measures included in the homes.”