Construction giant Persimmon Homes is looking for more than 200 new apprentices to learn the tricks of the trade in light of the on-going recovery in the UK housing market.

The 225 apprenticeships will be spread across Persimmon’s 24 regional businesses located in England, Wales and Scotland and will include education and training on skills such as bricklaying, plastering and joinery.

Persimmon - one of the UK’s biggest house builders - will offer a total of 125 apprenticeships will be offered in the construction sector, whilst 50 will be offered in the sales adviser sector and 50 in the technical sector of the company.

Chief executive of Persimmon Homes, Jeff Fairburn, believes strongly in the power of apprenticeships, as he began his own career on a Youth Training Scheme in the construction industry at age 17. Many of the other directors in the business at the moment were also helped on their way through apprenticeships or school-leaver training of some sort.

Mr Fairburn told Construction Enquirer: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young people to join a thriving business. We work hard on our training programmes and enjoy sharing our knowledge with young people and progressing them through the business. You never know, one of these young people may be our future chief executive in years to come!

“My own experience of starting work at 17 has been a positive one. We’re delighted to be giving young people the opportunity to join us,” Mr Fairburn went on to say.

Persimmon Homes build around 10,000 homes every year across approximately 400 development sites.