George Whitelaw

I started of at G&R scaffolding when I was 19 years old, Starting out working in the yard for the first week or 2 painting fittings and sorting kit out in the yard. After my first couple of weeks in the yard I started going out working with the lads and labouring doing general street work and getting used to what it takes to become a scaffolder. After 3 months at G&R scaffolding i got put through an apprenticeship for three years learning my part 1 and part 2, It was spaced out for 6 weeks for my part 1 and 6 weeks for my part 2, with a 3 month break in between every 2 week block. Once I passed through my apprenticeship and got the valuable experience I needed I started erecting my own jobs working alongside an apprentice. After a year or so I got asked if I would like to run my own Job on a site at Edgewick primary school for one of our bigger clients. After running that job successfully I got asked if I wanted to run a big job down on a new build secondary school in Northwood London which I decided I wanted to go experience working away from home and running a big job. After just over a year and completing the project on time it was a successful time and I really enjoyed running a job that big. I went on to run 2 more sites both in London for the same client at Gresham and Grassy meadows where both jobs ran smoothly and completed successfully. Due to a new born baby being born I decided to come back to Coventry and carry on running sites which I enjoy doing. I got asked to run a site at the jag land rover site in Coventry for mclarens construction, I was there for just over 8 moths and whilst being on site I went onto complete my IPAF training to allow me to drive cherry pickers on site. After that job had finished I went onto complete more training and did my sssts course which I successfully passed Along with my first aid course. In between that job finishing and the last job I ran I did scaffold inspecting and signing of scaffolds and making sure there safe something I took pride in as I was doing this when I was running my own sites and I always made sure safety was a priority. I went onto run 5 blocks of new build apartments for mclarens contruction which I was on for over a year and it was completed on time. After this job had finished I went onto complete my advanced scaffold course which took 2 weeks and was something I always wanted to do. I then started going out inspecting jobs and making sure they was erected safely as health and safety was always something I was interested in. After a few months of doing that I got asked if I would like to go into the management side of things at G&R scaffolding and start as a contract manager which I was proud to do so. I enjoyed going out viewing jobs liaising with site agents and customers to make sure G&R always had a good representation. I went to complete my iosh in management course last year and learnt how to do RAMS. I’m currently doing my level 6 nvq in health and safety and hoping to get it completed very soon.

I decided to take up scaffolding at MET scaffolding with one of my friends working as there labourer on a small based scaffold firm in Coventry. I did general scaffold labouring duties in my short time there and really enjoyed it so I decided to go to a bigger firm and get the relevant training and the chance to progress in my job.

Started off working on Weston’s lawns farm just after leaving school, Farming was always something I wanted to do when I was at school as I like animals and taking part in the harvesting was something I was always interested in.I really enjoyed my 2 years at Weston lawns farm and was involved in the the help with setting up horse jumps, mucking out the stables and driving the tractors. I decided to leave farming when I was 18 years old.