Unite National Apprenticeship Officer (Construction)
Richard served his apprenticeship in the electrical contracting industry and joined Unite’s predecessor the EETPU, qualifying as a JIB electrician at the age of 21. He has been conscious of the UK construction industry all of his life, his father being a plumber.
Richard then worked in every aspect of the M&E contracting sector, from domestic through to public and commercial contracts, right through to major engineering construction sites, working for small, medium and large contractors.
He became active in the AEEU as a shop steward and safety representative, and in August 2003 began full time employment with the union, then Unite’s predecessor union Amicus-AEEU as their research officer for construction & contracting.
From 2005 until 2008 he served as a construction regional officer for Amicus, in the Eastern region representing members at every level, and then in late 2008 took up his current role as the Unite union’s national apprenticeship officer for construction.
Richard currently sits on both the electrical JIB and plumbing JIB, ECS Committee, and is a Trustee of the Sector Skills Council for Building Services Engineering SummitSkills, a Trustee of National Electrotechnical Training (NET), and a Trustee of the charitable industry training provider JTL, as well as representing the union and advocating for it’s members in regard to apprenticeships and skills within construction and the built environment on several other industry bodies including the ECITB in Engineering Construction.
