J Tomlinson gas engineer a winner in the Building Communities Awards 2017

Macauley Shaw wins Apprentice of the Year 2017

J Tomlinson gas engineer Macauley Shaw has won the title of Apprentice of the Year (16-24) in the Building Communities Awards 2017. 

The 20-year-old scooped the accolade at an awards ceremony held at East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham.

Macauley has been with Nottingham-based building services company J Tomlinson since leaving school at the age of 16 and is now a qualified gas engineer.

Martin Ardron, J Tomlinson’s operations director repairs and maintenance and facilities management, said: “We are thrilled that Macauley has been named Apprentice of the Year at the Building Communities Awards and are very proud of him. It’s a richly deserved award.

“As a company, J Tomlinson is very committed to training our workforce, improving our team and individual performances, and giving our employees the opportunity to achieve professional and personal growth. Macauley has been with us since leaving school and has grasped all the opportunities that have been given to him with both hands. He receives many compliments from customers and is a much-valued member of the J Tomlinson team.”

Macauley works in the Repair & Maintenance – Service & Repair division at J Tomlinson and travels across the Midlands and Yorkshire as part of his role. He is a key member of the 24-hour call-out rota, working on plumbing emergencies overnight, and has recently begun attending gas call outs too.

He undertook part of his training at Derby College and since joining J Tomlinson he has completed his NVQ level 2 and NVQ level 3 in Plumbing and Heating, as well as the Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS) – the industry recognised and accepted route for operatives to gain a certificate of competence, needed to become a member of the Gas Safe Register. He is now hoping to undertake further qualifications so that he can, in his own words, ‘better myself in the company’. 

His line manager, project manager, Jim Upex said: “Macauley is a great engineer and a great team player. We’re delighted that his hard work and dedication has been recognised and rewarded with this title of Apprentice of the Year.”

The Building Communities Awards recognise the professionalism, excellence and innovation sitting at the heart of the East Midlands’ construction and housing community in both the public and the private sectors. The Apprentice of the Year (16-24) Award was sponsored by J Wright Roofing Ltd. 

As a company, J Tomlinson provides a range of integrated building services which include construction, mechanical and electrical services (M&E), facilities management, refurbishment, repairs and maintenance and regeneration. It primarily operates across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire.

For more information about J Tomlinson and current job vacancies, visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Five new apprentices and two trainees join J Tomlinson

Some of the recent apprentices and trainees hired by J Tomlinson

Construction services company J Tomlinson has taken on five apprentices and two trainees as part of the firm’s commitment to training young people.

The new recruits are spread across a range of disciplines within the Nottingham-based company, and have been announced ahead of National Apprenticeship Week 2017, which runs 6^th to 10^th March.

Daniel York, 22, has been appointed as a plumbing and heating apprentice within the repairs and maintenance department. He will work as part of the J Tomlinson team undertaking five years of investment work on Ashfield Homes properties, and will be involved in heating installations. During this time, he will study at Vision West Nottinghamshire College for an NVQ Level 3 Plumbing and Heating.

Seventeen-year-old apprentice joiner Max Anthony has been hired by the regeneration department and will also work on the Ashfield Homes project – undertaking housing refurbishment work and general joinery. A former student of Holgate Academy, Hucknall, he is studying for an NVQ Level 3 in Joinery at Vision West Nottinghamshire College.

Danielle Baguley, 17, has been taken on as an apprentice customer liaison officer based at J Tomlinson’s Sutton- in-Ashfield office at Brierley Park Industrial Estate, Stanton Hill.

Meanwhile, apprentice bid coordinator Jess Stone, 19, has joined the business development and marketing team at J Tomlinson’s head office in Beeston, Nottingham, where she is supporting the bid team in putting together tender submissions and carrying out general administration support in the department. She is undertaking work-based learning and studying for a BTEC Level 3 in Business Administration. 

Daniella Ward, 21, has also recently started with the company and is an apprentice administrator working in the Facilities Management team at head office.

In addition, the company has also recently appointed part-qualified trainee electrician Robyn Burch, 33, from the Ashfield area, who began working at J Tomlinson after switching from a job in retail to a career in the electrical sector.

Completing the new starters is trainee quantity surveyor Alex Bartin, 19, who is in his first year of a QS degree at Sheffield Hallam University and who comes from Dronfield, near Chesterfield. Both Robyn and Alex are also working on the Ashfield contract.

“I’d like to welcome our latest apprentices and trainees to J Tomlinson,” said J Tomlinson regeneration director Antony Newton. “As a company, we are committed to investing in apprentices and trainees across a range of disciplines. We currently have several apprentices undertaking work-based and college-based learning and training, plus many employees who have been appointed on permanent contracts after successfully completing their apprenticeships schemes.”

Cllr Keir Morrison, portfolio holder for housing at Ashfield District Council, added: “We are pleased that as part of the Ashfield Homes contract, J Tomlinson is able to invest in the future of these young people. With the current skills shortage within the construction industry, offering apprenticeships and traineeships shows they are committed to addressing these skills gaps.” 

J Tomlinson provides a range of integrated building solutions including construction, refurbishment, repairs and maintenance, mechanical and electrical services (M&E), and facilities management. It operates across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire, working with private sector and public sector organisations. 

In 2015, the firm began working on a five-year, £30 million improvement programme being invested into Ashfield District Council homes – its largest ever single contract.

For more information about J Tomlinson, visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

The BPEC Charity Life Award gives out almost £30,000 to plumbing good causes

Almost £30,000 has been given out in charitable donations by training and certification provider BPEC to projects that use plumbing skills to enhance life.

At its first ever Life Award presentation ceremony, The BPEC Charity made four awards to deserving projects.

In memory of BPEC’s founding chairman Raymond J Brooks, they were presented by the charity’s trustees at an event attended by 100 representatives of the plumbing industry at Pride Park Stadium, Derby, on October 24th 2012.

The Master of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers Charles Yuill gave the guest speech.

The BPEC Charity Life Award 2012 was presented to Lee Firth and his team of apprentices at NG Bailey in Leeds for the design of a project that will deliver a safe water system to a health clinic in Cobue, Mozambique.

The team, which also included mechanical BSE student James Reid, junior project engineer Oliver Pengelly, and trainee mechanical designer Kayley Lockhead, was awarded £12,000 from The BPEC Charity.

Winning the award means that they will now be able to travel to Mozambique to install the design, which was drawn up following an approach from a UK doctor working in Mozambique.

Currently drinking water in the village is sourced from a nearby polluted lake.

“My team feels privileged to have an opportunity to deliver a project which will have an enormous impact on the lives and well-being of people in such a deprived area,” said Lee Firth, professional development manager.


The BPEC Charity also awarded a Conditional Award of £10,000 to Burnley College for a project to take apprentice plumbers to Uganda to work alongside a village community to build wells to provide safe, clean drinking water.

Plumbing tutor Stephen Dobney intends to work with the Drop in the Bucket charity to get the project off the ground and is embarking on a fundraising bid involving the college and local community.

“Our goal is to decrease the number of children needlessly dying of malaria brought on by drinking contaminated water,” said Stephen.

“Using the skills students have developed in theory and practical lessons, we want to work alongside the community and help build wells that will provide the safe, clean drinking water that these people so desperately need. It will make a massive difference to the way the villagers live, and ultimately save their lives.”

A Development Life Award of £6,000 was presented to Martin Biron, head of school (construction), and his associates from the College of North West London for the development of a virtual plumbing college online to support plumbing students and teachers.

Over the past four years, many thousands of students have used the virtual online 3-D training environment.

“As an educator, over the past five years I have been driven with a passion to develop educational resources to encourage individuals to develop the skills needed to become competent and proficient plumbers,” said Martin.

The award will fund the online 3-D world on the Second Life virtual reality site for a further two years.

A Merit Life Award of £1,500 was presented to plumber John Booth, from Fareham, Hampshire, for his involvement in the Peace & Hope Trust’s charity work in Nicaragua.

John has financed two trips to Nicaragua since 2003, and has been involved in supervising plumbing projects that have helped to collect rainwater and provide safe, clean drinking water.

A number of other developments have also been introduced, such as a toilet to separate urine and faeces, which helps with crop fertilisation.

Each expedition costs £1,500 and the award will allow John to visit Nicaragua again to help continue the work, which is part of the reconciliation and construction programme started in 1990 following an earthquake in 1971 and the civil war in the 1980s which left the Central American country impoverished.

BPEC chairman Frank Glover said: “BPEC is delighted to have presented four separate awards at our inaugural BPEC Charity Life Awards event.

Each of the award winning entries has shown how plumbing can make a difference to life, and we congratulate this year’s winners.”

The search has now started for applicants for next year’s BPEC Charity Life Awards, with organisers urging those who work in the plumbing sector to put themselves forward.

“There are so many ways in which plumbing skills can enhance life,” said Frank Glover.

 “It may be through product invention, an innovative solution or service, a charitable plumbing activity or project, raising the image of plumbing or a change in perspective.

 We hope that this year’s winners will provide inspiration to others who could be award winners in 2013.”

BPEC, which was established in 1992, is the leading provider of training and certification for the building services engineering sector, which covers the gas, oil, plumbing, electrotechnical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration industries.

The organisation’s training materials range from technical training packs for domestic gas safety and water regulations to a selection of renewable energies manuals such as solar thermal hot water and heat pumps.

BPEC is dedicated to education and lifelong learning, and seeks to encourage individuals to undertake further training to continuously update their skills, both for personal development and to keep abreast of the industry’s technological advances.

Its charitable arm – The BPEC Charity – launched the Life Award in 2012 to reward and support those in the UK plumbing industry who use plumbing skills to enhance life.

To find out more about entering next year’s Life Awards visit www.bpec.org.uk/charity

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk