New Chair of Youthbuilding UK

John Montague, group chief executive of the TREES group, has been appointed to chair Youthbuilding UK, a national body designed to encourage young people into the construction industry.

John, who is also chief executive of Newlife Regeneration and Construction, based in Braunstone, Leicester, originally trained as an engineer and has worked in the building industry for more than 25 years.

Youthbuilding UK projects aim to empower socially excluded young people to undertake vocational training to construct better communities, environments, enterprises, homes and facilities for those in need, enhancing their employment opportunities.

John said: "With the support of organisations like Youthbuilding UK, the construction industry can provide a great entrance route to further education, training and jobs for disadvantaged young people." John started his career at the Kier Group working on construction projects across the country.

He then spent 10 years with John Mowlem plc, managing an annual construction turnover of GBP30 million, mostly in the area of social housing.

Each year the Youthbuilding UK Awards are awarded to young people who have achieved outstanding personal and professional growth over the course of the project and would not have been able to access employment in the construction industry without the project.

The awards are run in conjunction with the National House Builders' Council.

This year, the awards will be made in London during Construction Week in October and up to GBP4,000 prize money will be awarded to an overall winner and runners-up in each of the two categories to help them buy books, tools or to support further training.

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