Fifteen applicants have now completed Anglian Water’s @one Alliance latest Project Delivery Training School and will now join the Alliance as full-time employees in roles across the organisation to enable delivery of its AMP8 portfolio, worth £3 billion.

The training school, first started in 2022, has seen three schools focused on training new Construction Operatives and two focused on Project Delivery roles, including trainee planners, project co-ordinators and estimators.

The condensed 10-week training programme is designed to provide a new route into the construction industry, enabling successful students to transition into full-time roles in the organisation.

The fifteen applicants were chosen from a pool of 215 applications submitted to the Alliance in February. Of those 215, around 40 applicants were invited to an assessment centre in March, designed to narrow down the applicants to those who best displayed care and understanding of the Anglian Water values – Always Exploring, Do The Right Thing & Build Trust.

So far the training school programme has received nearly 700 applications since October 2022 , with a 100% retention rate across project delivery roles. The school has also offered a welcome challenge to the gender diversity ratio in the construction industry: according to the Office for National Statistics, only 15% of the construction workforce are female, while the @one Alliance’s two Project Delivery Training Schools have had 43% and 73% female cohorts.

Gary Slater, People Development Manager for the @one Alliance, said about the school: “Our training school has brought in fantastic new teammates from diverse backgrounds – people who share our values and are eager to grow. This success is thanks to the passion of our team, the support of our partner companies, and the partnerships that have helped make it happen. We’re proud to have helped unlock potential that might have been missed, and the diversity and loyalty of our new colleagues truly reflect our ‘Always Exploring’ spirit.”

Learning & Development Partner, Amber Richardson, said: “It’s always a great time to join the water industry – there’s a job for life here and there’s so much opportunity to grow and move about the business. It’s a really exciting time, especially with the scale of the investment we’ve got coming up over the next five years.”

Saba Mustafa, Project Delivery Trainee, said: “Before I joined the training school, I worked in retail. I joined because it’s a new experience with so many new opportunities to learn new skills – especially in the water industry, there’s so much to learn. In my new role, I'm excited to start making connections. If you’re thinking about joining the next training school – just do it – press the button and do it!”