Calling all would be Gas Engineers

OCTOBER 12, 2007

The search is on to find the North’s gas engineers of the future.
United Utilities will soon be starting to recruit for its gas apprenticeship programme and interested applicants are being given the opportunity to pre-register their interest on the company’s website.
United Utilities looks after the region’s gas mains system on behalf of pipeline company Northern Gas Networks.
As well as running the gas emergency service, the company also replaces about 550km of gas mains for Northern Gas Networks every year. The apprentices programme was re-introduced three years ago breaking a decade long drought in gas training in the region. It currently has 45 people at various stages of training.
Successful candidates go through a comprehensive three-year training programme and can choose to specialise in one of four areas including emergency, repair, network maintenance and electrical instrumentation.
Engineering operations manager Peter Christie, who himself joined the company as an apprentice, says the apprentice scheme is vital for the future of the gas industry.  He said: “For many years we didn’t see a lot of young people coming into the industry but the apprenticeship programme really turned that around. We haven’t had anyone dropping out of the programme which speaks volumes for the high standard of training on offer and the exciting career opportunities available.”
Anyone interested in pre-registering for an application can register their details on United Utilities website by going to www.unitedutilities.com and clicking on ‘careers’ then ‘apprenticeships’. Recruitment will begin in December and January.