Gaining New Perspectives Through Apprenticeships

Bouygues UK has long been a supporter of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) and we value each of our apprentices highly. They bring so much to our company, and we know that attracting the best talent onto our next generation programmes is the most sustainable way to develop our future business leaders.

This year, as part of our activities during NAW 2025, we challenged two of our apprentices to learn more about each other’s role at Bouygues UK and their apprenticeship courses.  Meet Ellie Rogers, an HR Apprentice in our Bristol office, and Nick Keenan, an Apprentice Site Manager on a data centre project in Newport, both of whom ‘swapped jobs’ to understand just how much apprenticeships can help develop rewarding careers.

Ellie was the first to take part in the swap as she joined Nick and Senior Project Manager, Kieron Jenkins, on site in Newport. From Nick and Kieron, Ellie learnt more about the project as well as some of the challenges that have been overcome by the team, the achievements to date, and an overview of future development plans. This was followed by a discussion with Nick about health and safety, a crucial aspect to his role, and the importance of wearing the correct PPE, before he took Ellie on a tour of the site. 

On site, Ellie witnessed the enormous cladding panels going up and discovered what attenuation ponds and substations are.  Nick also took Ellie up onto the roof as he discussed his role specialising in the structures package of works and the additional training courses he has been able to undertake through Bouygues UK, including the five-day Site Management Safety Training Scheme.

Both Ellie and Nick are in the early stages of their career journeys and Ellie was curious to know if being more junior had impacted Nick’s sense of responsibility on site, but he assured her that he felt empowered and had the confidence to handle challenging situations. One of the added benefits of the site visit for Ellie was hearing directly from some of Nick’s colleagues in the site offices, each of whom offered valuable insights into how their role contributes to the success of the project.

Later, Nick headed to Bouygues UK’s Bristol office where Ellie works. Ellie also gave insights into her own role as well as sharing an overview of what the HR team is responsible for and how the team is divided into different subdivisions, such as Learning and Development.

Focusing specifically on her apprenticeship course, Ellie talked Nick through a hypothetical HR scenario she has had to tackle and analyse as part of her coursework. “There is a lot more to HR than I thought!” Nick reflected. Nick then had an opportunity to meet Ellie’s other office-based colleagues which enabled Nick to understand the breadth of roles available not only on site but also in our head offices. 

Both apprentices found it very useful talking to colleagues from the site team and the support services to learn more about their roles. 

Ellie said,

It was great to be able to put faces to names but also interesting to experience the high-pressure and particularly time critical environment on site at the data centre project.

Nick said,

I enjoyed showing Ellie around the site and discussing the importance of health and safety which is so critical to my role.  In Bristol, it was good to learn about HR and I got a lot out of the Design and Pre-Construction discussions given how this links to my work.

This ‘job swap’ presented an important occasion to showcase apprenticeship roles within the business. The experiences Ellie and Nick have now had of each other’s jobs will no doubt aid their own professional development as they continue their career journeys with Bouygues UK. By offering opportunities like this, we can inspire more of the next generation to consider apprenticeships as we share the increased confidence, skills, knowledge of other apprentices and how such programmes have kick-started incredible careers.