News & Stories
Success stories
John completed the Computer Aided Design course at Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation Training College and he’s now helping design the new Virgin Atlantic Training Centre at Crawley!
I went to visit him at his new workplace in Epsom. Here’s his story:
John was unemployed for 3 years and on Incapacity Benefit after a breakdown in 2001. Additional health problems prevented him from returning to work as a lorry driver or carpenter, so he needed to re-think his future.
In May 2004, he saw the Disability Employment Adviser, Sylvia Markwick, at Eastbourne Jobcentre, and she told him about various re-training options.
He said to me "If I hadn’t gone into the Jobcentre myself to look for help, I’d still be sitting in my flat now!"
John attended an "Open Day" here at the Queen Elizabeth’s Training College in Leatherhead, to look at the courses on offer. After speaking to Martin, one of our Computer Aided Design instructors, he decided that in view of his building background, the CAD course would be his best option.
John started his training at the College in September 2004. He completed the course in good time and not only gained City and Guilds qualifications in both 2D and 3D, but also a CLAIT qualification. He said, "I had lots of help from the staff who were very knowledgeable. I really enjoyed myself at the College, and I do miss the camaraderie with my fellow trainees. I made a lot of good friends and have kept in contact with most of them."
In July 2005, with the help of the Employment Development Department here at the College, John was offered the choice of two work placements to gain some hands-on experience. He chose PDP Architects in Epsom as he thought they had good job prospects. Well, he was right!!
After only a few weeks into his work placement, the company offered him a permanent job. He had not only impressed them very quickly with the quality of his work, but also his warm, friendly and jocular manner had made him very popular with the staff.
John started with PDP Architects in September and is doing very well. He is working on the re-design of Virgin Atlantic’s National Training Centre in Crawley. He is involved with taking part of the roof off the current building, and raising it to accommodate a full-size mock aircraft fuselage with full-height escape chutes from the emergency exits. There are many other alterations to the building planned, with a £10 million budget, so it’s quite a project! The work has now started and is due for completion in 2006.
John’s workstation at PDP Architects in Ryebrook Studios, Epsom
John’s design for the Virgin Atlantic training centre
"The College gave me the opportunity to restart my life"
