Gloucester-based Clarkson Evans is celebrating after being named Contractor of the Year at this year’s prestigious Electrical Industry Awards. 

The national competition – now in its 20^th year – is designed to recognise the success of the sector’s leading players.  Clarkson Evans fought off competition by demonstrating how at a time when many competitors were scaling things back, they’d invested in an ambitious expansion plan and used innovative ideas to increase market share.  Their ongoing commitment to apprenticeships was also complemented by the judges.

The company specialises in wiring brand new homes – around 10,000 of them a year – and now has over 400 employees spread across its nine branches.  They also run highly successful training centres in Gloucester and Birmingham, providing electrical courses for other firms.

Commenting on their latest success, managing director Steve Evans said: “Winning this award means so much to us because it was judged by people who work in our own industry.  We’ve won awards for staff development in the past but it’s great to receive recognition for the complete package of what we’ve achieved”.

Electrical contractor Clarkson Evans held a graduation-style awards evening to celebrate the achievements of staff who’ve recently achieved Advanced Apprenticeships in Electrical Installation.  44 young people were presented with certificates by former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, in front of their proud families at Hatherley Manor Hotel.

The Staverton-based company specialises in wiring new homes and this year it has recruited over 100 new apprentices.  All of them follow a unique in-house programme, attending day release classes at the company’s own training centre.

Managing director Steve Evans is a strong supporter of Apprenticeships and explains why they are so important to the business:  “By investing in young people we’re growing our next generation of team leaders”, said Steve.  “There’s simply no way we could ever recruit enough fully qualified staff with the right skills to meet the needs of our customers so we took the decision many years ago that apprenticeships were the only way forward”. 

Last year Clarkson Evans won the National Apprenticeship Award for Best Medium Sized Employer and this week they’ll be helping to judge the same competition for 2012.  They were also the main sponsor for Gloucestershire Media’s first ever Apprenticeship Awards held earlier this year. 

It’s not just Clarkson Evans’ own staff who benefit from their training.  The training centre has long been virtually a business in its own right and the company now trains apprentices for around 30 other employers.

There’s no doubt about the excellent contribution they have made to raising the profile of apprenticeships and helping to promote them as a positive career choice for talented young people.

Electrical contractor Clarkson Evans has been shortlisted for the Contractor of the Year Award at this year’s Electrical Industry Awards, the national competition now celebrating its 20th anniversary and designed to recognise the success of the sector’s leading players.

It’s been a remarkable time for the Gloucester-based firm, which specialises in wiring new homes for the UK’s leading house builders. It has recruited 96 apprentices in the last year – quite possibly more than any other electrical contractor in the country – and it now wires over 10,000 homes annually from nine regional branches. With training centres in Gloucester and Birmingham at which it trains electricians for other firms, the company is also helping to improve skills across the electrical industry as a whole.

“We put much of our success down to employing and training our own apprentices”, commented Lindsey Young, HR & Training Director. “It has allowed us to create a highly dedicated and productive workforce that we can rely on to deliver the service our customers demand. These are still very tough times for the industry but we feel our commitment to investing in our staff often gives us the edge over our competitors.”

The winners of the Electrical Industry Awards will be announced on 25 October.

Sponsors of the Gloucestershire Apprenticeship Awards – March 2012

We’re proud to be lead sponsors of the first ever Gloucestershire Apprenticeship Awards.  The prestigious competition has been launched to formally recognise the outstanding apprentices in the county, along with the best apprentice employers and training providers.

Steve Evans, Clarkson Evans Managing Director, was among the judges who decided on this year’s winners – to be announced during a ceremony at Cheltenham Racecourse on Wednesday 4 April.

HRH Princess Anne will be among the high profile guests attending the event and three of our apprentices will be lucky enough to meet her in person.

We’re delighted to have scooped the Medium Apprentice Employer prize at the prestigious National Apprenticeship Awards.

This year’s awards attracted thousands of entries from across the country and the chosen few were invited along to this week’s ceremony at the Mermaid Conference Centre in London. Having fought off tough competition, we were presented with this much coveted national award that recognises our commitment to apprenticeships.

“It’s only by employing apprentices and training them in-house that we’ve been able to develop a dedicated workforce with the right skills”, said Steve Evans, managing director. “We always look for people who are keen to forge long-term careers with Clarkson Evans and many previous apprentices have grown with the company, taking on more responsibility and helping us maintain high levels of customer service as we continue to expand”.

We now employ 20 staff in Devon, including 8 electrical apprentices, and last week we celebrated the official launch of our new branch in Exeter.  With another new branch in Newquay and one opening next year in Plymouth, this strengthens our commitment to expansion in the South West.

Our total workforce of over 350 staff are based at branches covering much of southern England, the Midlands and South Wales, but it’s only in the last six months that business has really taken off in Devon and Cornwall. 

Despite operating in an industry that has struggled through the recession, we have steadily expanded in the last two years and Steve Evans, managing director, puts this down to two key things.  “We invest heavily in staff development and have a strong emphasis on customer service”, said Steve.  “We usually employ at least 40 apprentices every year across all branches, offering them a long-term career path.  The vast majority progress to become our team leaders and everyone is taught from day one that in our customers’ eyes we’re only as good as our last job”.

Amongst those who attended the official opening of the Exeter branch were senior staff from our key customers – the UK’s leading house builders – as well as Councillor Kevin Mitchell (Deputy Lord Mayor of Exeter) and Richard Daulton, Employer Services Manager at the National Apprenticeship Service.  Richard commented on the clear importance of workforce development to the success of the business, saying “A significant amount of the reputation and growth of Clarkson Evans can be directly attributed to their substantial and sustained investment in Apprenticeships”.

When asked about plans for further growth in the South West, Steve Evans is cautiously optimistic about the future.  “These remain difficult times for the house building industry but there are positive signs that we’ll be able to expand our workforce and offer more apprenticeships in the coming months.  We’re pressing forward not just with the volume of sites we’re working on but also the range of services we offer – solar photovoltaic installations are in particular high demand”, said Steve.