IN MY VIEW
SINGING THE PRAISES OF APPRENTICESHIPS
Paul Harding is an equity Partner at Ridge & Partners and has more than 25 years work experience gained in the built environment sector
It will therefore be no surprise to you that I think apprenticeships offer wonderful opportunities for young people, particularly for those interested in STEM subjects. I have spoken at school and college careers events across Hampshire, spreading the word to pupils and students, and my colleagues regularly give talks about what we do to students at the likes of the University of Southampton. I AM VERY PROUD THAT RIDGE CURRENTLY EMPLOYS OVER 70 APPRENTICES AS PART OF OUR NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIPS STRATEGY, BRINGING THROUGH THE NEXT GENERATION OF INDUSTRY LEADERS.
MY TIME AS AN APPRENTICE SPARKED A FASCINATION WITH HOW
BUILDING SERVICES COULD BE BETTER DESIGNED
I spent the following five years combining hands-on experience of the trade with studies at Eastleigh College and Southampton College of Higher Education (now Southampton Solent University) – I would probably never have gone to college if it hadn't been for the apprenticeship. I gained really interesting experience in how buildings work, across a diverse range of building types, ages and styles. My time as an apprentice sparked a fascination with how building services could be better designed; this led to a long and happy career working on many fantastic projects, more recently including the likes of Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre and the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth as well as smaller local projects of real value to the community such as the multi-award-winning residential extension of homelessness charity Trinity’s Winchester base. I have worked on projects across the world and have got to enjoy a career doing something I love.
PAUL HARDING PARTNER RIDGE & PARTNERS
Anybody who knows me will tell you I’m something of an evangelist for apprenticeships. I’m now an equity partner at Ridge and Partners, a national built environment consultancy of over 1,300 people offering multidiscipline services across the property and construction industry, but my first career steps were as an indentured apprentice at a small electrical contractor company in Winchester. Despite my initial dreams growing up in Twyford of spending my life fishing on riverbanks across Hampshire, my father somehow managed to persuade me that an apprenticeship offered a safer career path.
The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton - one of the many fantastic local projects Paul has been involved with at Ridge and Partners
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator