The British Security Industry Association’s (BSIA) annual luncheon on July 12 played saw a winner and two joint runners up in the Apprentice Installer Awards.
The awards mark academic and practical success by Level Two and Level Three apprentices involved in the installation of alarms, CCTV, access control or a combination. The awards also serve to highlight the commitment of security companies and trainers.
This year’s overall winner is Corrie Stewart, pictured left collecting the award from BSIA chief executive James Kelly. Corrie, 21, a student from New College Lanarkshire (NCL) in the third year of her apprenticeship with Connelly Security Systems. Corrie has been impressing her peers and tutors at every level of her apprenticeship, being nominated for her attention to detail and overall skills. In his nomination, David Scott, Curriculum & Quality Leader of Built Environment and Electronic Fire and Security at NCL, said that Corrie “is performing well beyond her years in terms of understanding systems and system circuitry.”
Corrie has been excelling in the theory and practical elements of her apprenticeship, completing 12 units of her qualification with a 90pc pass mark or more. Although a third year apprentice, Corrie is already out on her own running her own fire and security jobs, which include installation and maintenance visits to British and European standards.
Corrie said: “I am incredibly proud to have won this award – it feels so surreal! I’ve absolutely loved my apprenticeship with New College Lanarkshire and CSS. It’s been hard work but my determination has paid off and I can’t wait to see where it takes me next. The apprenticeship has given me an opportunity to enhance my skills, gain valuable experience and work with those who have vast experience in the industry. The programme offers a varied career that requires skills and problem-solving and you face different challenges every day. I’m really proud of my success in such a male-dominated industry, but I can already see it changing and am delighted to hear that there’s another female apprentice in first year now.”
The two joint runners-up in the year’s awards are Callum Walker and Craig McAdorey who are both third year apprentices with Kings Security. They were joint runners up as their nominations were scored so closely by the judges that it was impossible to decide between the two.
Callum, 21, was referred to the apprenticeship scheme at Kings by a friend, and has been excelling as a Technical Support Apprentice. Joining over a dozen technical support engineers, all with a large amount of experience within the security industry, Callum has had the confidence and aptitude to speak out in group conversations and express his ideas, quickly gaining him the respect of the rest of his team. Lee Kerry, Head of Service at Kings, nominated Callum and particularly praised him for the fact that he is also always looking to broaden his technical knowledge, identifying new online courses and even completing some in his own time.
Callum said: “I’d like to thank Kings for giving me the opportunity of learning a trade and developing myself as a person but also the belief in becoming a security systems engineer. The support has been tremendous from the company with their in-house training; I feel this has been the key to my progression allowing me to work with a variety of systems. This achievement has now given me the confidence and belief that all of the training and the hard work I have put in has been worthwhile. My plan for the future is to continue striving to succeed personally and professionally towards the next generation of security systems engineers.”
And Craig McAdorey has quickly become an asset at Kings, completing in-house signalling training including Webway one, Dualcom, Digital Communicators and Emizon. This diverse skillset means Craig is confident in the installation process, being capable of delivering the end product on time and to a high standard. Gavin Salter, Area Engineering Manager for Kings, who nominated Craig, also highlighted his customer interface skills, “Craig is always prepared to go the extra bit to deliver and excel the requirements of the customer”, ensuring that he always maintains a highly professional manner and answers any questions they may have.
Craig said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank my employer Kings Security Systems, as without them none of this would be possible. I enjoy my job as a security systems installer; I enjoy working on all disciplines and I find all aspects of my role challenging and enjoyable. Being successful in this competition is a great achievement for me personally and for Kings, I take great pride in my work and endeavour to further progress in the future to fulfil my personal goals of becoming a security systems installer.”
The BSIA’s annual luncheon was held at The Grand Connaught Rooms near Covent Garden. This year’s Apprentice Installer Awards was sponsored by Syntinex. Jacques Lombard, Managing Director at Syntinex, said: “As a business, Syntinex recognises the importance of development and training of future engineers. We are therefore very proud to sponsor the Apprentice Installer Awards which recognise the achievements of apprentices.”
