Peffers is Scottish apprentice of the year
UK: James Peffers of Glasgow-based C&M Environmental Ltd has been named as Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Apprentice of the Year in the B&ES Scottish HVACR Awards for Outstanding Achievement.
The award, sponsored by KB Refrigeration, also saw KB’s own Justin Cahill taking the runner-up position.
The awards were presented by Bruce Bisset, president of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) at the company’s headquarters in Midlothian.
Other awards saw Tom Gregory of Prospero Facilities Services taking two awards as Craft Apprentice of the Year and Service and Maintenance Apprentice of the Year.
Pipe Fitter Welder Apprentice of the Year was Max Thomas of EMTEC Group and Pipe Fitter Apprentice of the Year went to Lee Cockburn of Taylor & Fraser.
Jordan Butler of RSP Consulting Engineers, Edinburgh, was named Building Services Technician of the Year.
In introducing the awards, Mr Bisset reported a small increase in the numbers of apprentices recruited across Scotland “from around 90 last year to 100 this year”.
“I’d like to think that this shows a growing level of confidence among employers, which can only be good news for all of us in building engineering services,” said the president – although he acknowledged that “we certainly won’t be returning to previous levels of employment overnight.”
The Scottish Government’s target was to deliver 25,000 modern apprenticeships annually – and he confirmed that his sector would be playing its part in this process.
“The young people we are here to honour today represent our future – in terms of innovation, technology, project management and the introduction of new ideas and new ways of working,” he said.
The Scottish HVACR Awards for Outstanding Achievement were organised by B&ES subsidiary Building Engineering Services Training (BEST) Scotland.
