A group of former Forth Valley College Modern Apprentices are now looking after the College’s facilities management needs, after their employer FES FM won a five year contract recently.
The popular Stirling based company have taken over from OCS to look after the cleaning, maintenance, repair and project work that may be needed across FVC’s three campuses in Falkirk, Stirling and Alloa.
Only Lee Welsh from the five strong FES FM Team who are charged with looking after the College did not study at FVC. All the others Jamie Turner, Thomas Dawson (2009-12 MA in Electrical Installation), Frazer Gibson (2013-17 MA in Facilities Service and Maintenance) and Tony McCallum (2004-08 MA Plumbing and Heating) trained and served their time as MAs at the College where they are now working.
Jamie Turner, studied as an Electrical Installation MA from August 2009-June 2012. Now FES Operations Manager for the FVC contract, Jamie said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus. I always found the course work interesting and well delivered. I was in a class of 12 FES apprentices so it was good to get to that mix off academic training and applying it on site, often with the other apprentices in our year.
“Thomas and I were both in the class, so it’s great to be able to work alongside him again, after us both going in different directions once our time was served. It has also been nice to see a few familiar faces now we have returned to the campus after 12 years.
“One of the pulls for taking the role was to return and take on the challenge of assisting and help maintain the College. Martin Loy and his team do a great job from what I have seen so far, and hopefully with our addition to the team over the next five years or so, we can keep the standards high and make the experience of all attending the campuses as enjoyable as possible.
“I’d recommend a modern apprenticeship to anyone of any age. It’s a step back on to the academic ladder and once you are back on, you never know what other doors may open. When I was serving my time I never expected facilities management to be an option, but through FES I was given a great platform to upskill and build on a foundation of knowledge which started at Forth Valley College.”
Martin Loy, Head of Estates at Forth Valley College, said: “We have already been impressed with the work FES FM have been doing since winning the contract recently, to look after the College’s Facilities Management needs for the next five years. It provides us with even more confidence going forward, to know that so many of the professionals who will be working on our behalf from FES FM, have been trained here at the College.”
