Never a company to follow trends, but rather a dynamic business that looks to lead the way, often forging a new path through the rocky terrain of the access platforms industry, Eagle Platforms, Sheffield are continuing to rage against the machine, bucking the trend of battening down the hatches during the Covid-19 pandemic by continuing to grow and deliberately expand the successful specialist lift and platform hire business that has helped them to establish themselves as a major player in the industry.
Eagle Platforms call Anston, Sheffield their home and are immensely proud of their Yorkshire roots. It is also a source of great pride that they’ve been able to recruit five new employees in a time of great economic uncertainty to help meet the growing demand for products. The construction industry has not really stopped at any point during the pandemic and as such, there have always been openings for new projects and a demand for MEWPs, cherry pickers and booms, not to mention the essential training programmes that help keep everyone on site safe and sound. Among the new workers are two mobile platform technicians, a sales executive, a hire desk administrator and a driver.
In alignment with other local employers in the Rother Valley area, Eagle Platforms are a big supporter of apprenticeships. Over the last nine years there has been a constant influx of young apprentices and 2020 was hoped to prove no exception, in spite of the challenges. Eagle Platforms were initially delighted to have offered two new recruits apprentice positions as NVQ L2 plant mechanics. Unfortunately a lack of funding has meant that the successful candidates have had to be informed that they will no longer be offered positions at the present, which was a heavy-hearted decision completely out of the hands of the company.
Eagle Platforms were never going to let this rest and have engaged in correspondence with the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) and the Ashkham Bryan College, York who provide the apprentice training. Following these conversations it became apparent that there was a funding issue and Eagle Platforms have moved on to contact their local Rother Valley MP. With the government’s insistence on the importance of youth employment and indeed apprenticeships, there is some hope of a resolution in the near future. A survey undertaken by Resolution Foundation found that Covid-19 had led to 1/3 of 18-24 year olds losing work as a result of the pandemic. To the young people of the Rother Valley area and in particular the disappointed potential apprentices, Eagle Platforms felt a moral obligation to take matters further.
Dan Stewart, Operations Director at Eagle Platforms offered: “As a business we continue to grow and are excited by our prospects. However, it is a great shame we’ve been unable to employ the apprentices we were planning to add to our team.”
“We have been liaising closely with several organisations including the CITB. Contractors Plant Association (CPA), Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) and our local Rother Valley MP to resolve the issue. Everyone is doing their bit, so we hope it will all be resolved quickly.”
“It is vitally important to offer young people opportunities in the work place, especially in these uncertain times. The young people of today are the business leaders and decision makers of tomorrow, thinking that is strongly engrained into the mind-set at Eagle Platforms.”
