Industry celebrates Apprenticeship Week

This National Apprenticeship Week, The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is encouraging employers to engage in the week-long celebration to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships and skills make to individuals, construction employers and the wider construction industry.

CITB has shared updated figures for its New Entrant Support Team (NEST), revealing that, between April and December 2025, NEST supported 4,572 apprenticeship starts across England, Scotland and Wales. This is 1,040 more than in the previous period from April to December 2024, representing a 30% increase.

CITB executive director, customer engagement and operations, Deb Madden, said: “The industry needs a steady and strong flow of talent to deliver critical infrastructure and support the government to reach its goal of building millions of new homes.

“Our Construction Workforce Outlook report highlights the need for around 47,000 extra workers each year by 2029 to meet current construction demand. NEST is a fundamental way in which we start strengthening the workforce, by providing hands-on, practical support to employers to help with meeting their skills, training and recruitment needs.

“We look forward to continuing the good work of the NEST team and helping employers to recruit and retain apprentices.”

This National Apprenticeship week, HMG is proud to be celebrating the various apprentices from across the business. HMG Paints has also seen a number of employees recently complete their apprenticeship programmes and progress into more advanced roles and, in addition to apprenticeships, HMG has also continued to invest into T-Level programmes, recognising the importance in developing early technical capability and supporting progression into specialist roles within the business. One such instance is Luis Beaumont, who completed a Laboratory Technician Apprenticeship and was recently nominated for Apprentice of the Year at the 2025 British Coating Federation Awards.

Talon is also throwing its weight behind National Apprentice Week, with a hands-on programme including face-to-face college visits and continued sponsorship of the HIP Learner of the Year award. The sessions are built to be practical, engaging and useful, with product talks, live demonstrations and installation guidance together with Talon merchandise giveaways.

Travis Perkins, which has more than 550 branches across the UK, is marking National Apprenticeship Week by reflecting on its support of more than 230 colleagues through apprenticeship programmes during 2025. Travis Perkins’ dedicated LEAP Apprenticeships and Early Careers team delivers the vast majority of the company’s apprenticeship training.

Leadership Training Manager for Travis Perkins, Janette Capehorn, said: “National Apprenticeship Week gives us the chance to reflect on the fantastic work of all our colleagues who have either completed, or are working towards, their qualifications. We currently have over 700 apprentices on programmes across the Travis Perkins Group and colleagues from the builders’ merchant make up a significant proportion of that number.

Arctic Hayes has announced it is expanding its training partnerships with key colleges nationwide as part of efforts to address an industry-wide skills shortage, and Northamptonshire-based Pro Tiler Tools, part of Topps Group, has partnered with Leeds College of Building and South and City College Birmingham to support wall and floor tiling apprenticeships and encourage more young people to consider the trade as a viable, long-term career.

Meanwhile, trade kitchen supplier Howdens is celebrating apprentices across its teams. Howdens apprenticeship manager James Baker commented; “National Apprenticeship Week gives us a chance to recognise and celebrate the incredible impact our apprentices have at Howdens. Many of our staff, more than one in ten, started their careers with us as apprentices. They are a huge part of what makes our business successful. We are proud to give apprentices the skills, support, and opportunities they need to grow, and it’s fantastic to see so many choosing to develop their careers with us.”