A 24-year-old apprentice joiner who works at a housebuilder’s Berry Hill development in Mansfield has been named Bellway’s Apprentice of the Year.

Matthew Allwood was given the award for his hard work, dedication and going above and beyond by helping with customer care repairs across the site.

Just five out of around 180 Bellway apprentices were shortlisted for the company’s Apprentice of the Year award, with Matthew going on to win the top prize.

Before starting his apprenticeship, Matthew (pictured above) was a labourer at Bellway’s development in Farnsfield for six months. He has now been working for the housebuilder for more than two years under Bellway sub-contractors JM Joinery at Berry Hill.

Matthew said: “I was very surprised when I won — I couldn’t believe it. I knew my site manager and sub-contractor had nominated me, but I didn’t expect to win, so it feels really rewarding. I want to thank Steve and JM Joinery for their support and nomination.

“Bellway’s apprenticeship scheme has let me do a variety of things within my role and it’s given me some good opportunities.”

Steve Pearson, site manager at Bellway’s Berry Hill development, said: “Matthew has been a great member of the team at Berry Hill and I congratulate him for his award which is very well deserved.

“Since he’s been here, he’s gone above and beyond his role by putting in the extra time and effort to make sure the homes we are building hit the high standards we aim to achieve.

“I look forward to seeing him continue his apprenticeship journey and I know he’ll go far in the future.”

Ashleigh Fenwick, Group Learning and Development Manager for Bellway, said: “We are incredibly proud of all our apprentices and trainees throughout the company, as we encourage and enable our newest recruits into a career within the construction industry. We currently have around 180 apprentices working at Bellway across all sectors of the business, from bricklayers to quantity surveyors, and our apprentice of the year awards celebrates each and every one of our future talents.

“This year, perhaps more so than ever, we wanted to say thank you and well done to our apprentices who had been faced with unrivalled challenges in light of the coronavirus pandemic. We received a record number of nominations and it was very difficult to choose our winners thanks to the excellent pool of talent at Bellway. We’d like to extend our congratulations once more to each of the winners at this year’s awards event and look forward to another 12 months of building excellence among the next generation of the housebuilding workforce.”

Bellway is a member of The 5% Club, a movement of employers working to create skills training opportunities across the UK by boosting the recruitment of apprentices in their companies.

For more information on Bellway’s apprenticeship opportunities, visit bellwaycareers.co.uk/apprenticeship-programme.