HARD HATS GO ABEGGING

Two brand new hard hats are waiting for the apprentices who will work on the Cathkin Brae development being built by Cruden for Ardenglen Housing Association in Castlemilk. On site, (SEE PICTURE ) checking details are Kenny Stocks, Director of Ardenglen, David McLatchie, Contracts Director of Cruden, Gordon Lee Development Surveyor for Cruden and Franny Kiernan of the Wider Action Team.

Phase four of Ardenglen's building programme is about to start at Cathkin Braes where 26 family homes of 2, 3 and 4 apartments will be built by Cruden at a cost of more than £2 million.

In a recent reccie of the spot, it was clear that the work will need at least two new apprentices to be taken on by Cruden under the local agreement they have with Castlemilk Wider Action. Said Franny Kiernan of the Wider Action Team based at Castlemilk Economic Development Agency (CEDA), "This is a great opportunity for young people. They could be straight out of school or might have been on a training programme. They might have been through a CEDA pre-apprentice course or be after a change of career. There are two hard hats waiting here for the right people. All they need to do is contact me or Janet McLean at 0141 634 1024."

Kenny Stocks, Chief Executive of Ardenglen commented, "Ardenglen firmly believe that community regeneration is not just about bricks and mortar investment. This scheme offers a real opportunity for residents and in particular young people, to participate and benefit from housing renewal in their local area. We are delighted therefore, to continue our long association with Cruden and CEDA and look forward not only to the completion of our 600th new house, but also to the fact that it will be built with the assistance of locally recruited apprentices."

At Cruden, David McLatchie added, "Across the city we will be looking for 12 apprentices - two of them, certainly, from Castlemilk, two from Greater Easterhouse and one each from other areas. We have worked closely over the past two years with Glasgow City Council's Training Department. The pre-apprentice training linked to school holidays has been a great step forward. It has improve the calibre of applicant and even produced one female apprentice. CEDA has offered us a very good calibre of interviewee and we look forward to starting soon on site at Cathkin Brae."