Outstanding local construction and manufacturing apprentices have been recognised for their skills and high standards demonstrated in their efforts and achievements at an awards ceremony held as part of Plymouth’s National Apprenticeship Week 2025.
The Apprentice of the Year Awards were presented jointly by Building Plymouth and the Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group (PMG), with nominations submitted by local construction and manufacturing employers and training providers, with the awards recognising sixty talented finalists and winning apprentices who were celebrated at the ceremony held at Market Hall, Devonport.
Introducing the awards ceremony, Councillor Sally Cresswell, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships at Plymouth City Council said: “It was fitting to hold this celebration in National Apprenticeship Week 2025 with the theme ‘Skills for Life,’ a good chance to reflect on how the opportunity to ‘earn while you learn’ can help both young people to start their career journey and adults to change career direction.
"These apprentice awards truly represent the very best of achievement in two of Plymouth’s high growth sectors: construction and the built environment, and manufacturing and engineering. This important week and our Awards today, presents us with a great platform to shine a light on the amazing opportunities that an apprenticeship brings to employers, individuals and the economy. I thank all our local employers and training providers who continue to invest and support our apprentices. I am delighted to share a personal congratulations to everyone celebrated.”
During the celebration, Oliver Preston was presented the highly respected Ron Simmonds Construction Trade Apprentice of the Year 2025 Award which recognised his successful Formwork Apprenticeship Level 2 with Kier BAM JV (Joint Venture) working at Devonport Dockyard with Greenlight Training.
Oliver said: “I never expected to come out as a winner of this award! Things were a bit challenging at the beginning of my apprenticeship but both Kier BAM JV and Greenlight worked hard for me to make sure I was able to continue on my chosen career. I really think that apprenticeships are great - the flexibility is what has allowed me to continue with formworks which I love! Doing an apprenticeship has really helped my confidence and this will help my career going forward."
Next up, Kiya Cooke–Smith was awarded the prestigious Building Plymouth Technical Construction Apprentice of the Year 2025 Award. Employed by Hydrock now Stantec with the University of Exeter, Kiya is undertaking a Civil Engineer Degree Apprenticeship Level 6.
On receiving the award Kiya said: “It was so exciting to have won this top technical award. I am so grateful to everyone who has supported me on this apprenticeship journey. I would always recommend doing an apprenticeship to anyone, it has really opened so many opportunities for me and has been a great start to my career as a structural engineer. The things that I enjoy most are being a woman working in STEM and being able to inspire the next generation of girls coming into the industry. Hydrock now Stantec are a fantastic employer and allow me to make the most of all the opportunities that come my way."
Presenting the construction apprentice awards as Building Plymouth’s Chair, David Bayliss, Regional Director at Stride Treglown said: “The 2025 Apprentice of the Year Awards are certainly a highlight event during Building Plymouth’s 10th year anniversary, I am delighted to present awards to the city’s top construction and built environment apprentices. With Plymouth facing its most ambitious capital build programme in 25 years along with the drive towards transitioning to a net zero carbon economy, we recognise through our Building Plymouth partnership how important investment in apprenticeships will be to deliver this growth locally. Huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists for our Building Plymouth awards!”
The PMG Apprentice of the Year Awards 2025 were once again sponsored by Make UK, of which Jim Davison, Make UK’s National Membership Director was on the judging panel and presented the awards to the winners and finalists.
Jim commented: “This year, our task as judges was particularly difficult such was the outstanding level of nominations received. The dedication that these apprentices have towards their apprenticeships, their companies and their colleagues, is hugely reassuring for the continued growth and development of the UK’s dynamic manufacturing industry. While we especially congratulate the winners, we must applaud all the finalists for their hard work and passion for our sector which is why, I am delighted to support the PMG Apprentice of the Year Awards and celebrate our industry’s future talent in this way.”
The PMG’s awards covered Manufacturing and Engineering Rising Star and Final Year Apprentices of the Year and Business in Manufacturing Rising Star and Final Year Apprentices of the Year.
Daniel Piaskowski, who is an Apprentice Engineer at Cornwall Bakery - Samworth Brothers and training with Cornwall College is the Final Year Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year 2025. Daniel said on receiving his award that he was both “surprised and excited to win” while Daniel’s colleagues, Alan Beal and Mike Barrington who attended the event to support their nominee commented that “based on the incredible hard work that they had observed from Daniel during his apprenticeship, to be recognised as a winner was hugely well deserved.”
The Award Winner for the Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year was Kieren O’Donnell from Alstomwho is an Industrial Engineering Apprentice training with Aston University. Kieren commented that he felt “almost speechless and truly honoured to win the award”. Kieren’s supervisor, Dave Gale, Lead Engineer at Alstom said “I am thrilled for Kieren to have won this award. It is a well-deserved accolade, and a reflection of the sheer amount of hard work and dedication he has put in over the last year at Alstom and at Aston University. It is great to see so many talented apprentices in the Plymouth area, and I think this is a good reflection of the high standards set by manufacturing companies in our locality. Thank you to PMG for bringing this event together to celebrate the fabulous talent we have in Plymouth.”
Lee Crocker, Managing Director and Chair of the Board at Kawasaki Precision Machinery and Chair of Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group said of the winners and finalists: “We employ apprentices at Kawasaki so I believe I can speak on behalf of my fellow members when I say that we all feel tremendous pride when we see our apprentices grow, not just in their abilities but also in their confidence. These awards are a way to show them that we recognise their endeavours in our companies and that we are, in turn, also committed to them.
"Plymouth is one of the UK’s top ten cities with the largest concentration of manufacturing employment and our sector contributes a higher than average percentage to Plymouth’s economy – which means our apprentices are also critical to the economic growth and future success of our city and local area. It is a particularly exciting time to be in manufacturing, with opportunities to be involved in the adoption of a variety of new technologies whether that’s in AI, automation or renewable energy, as just a few examples. We are delighted and encouraged that we have such talent as part of our PMG family. We congratulate all finalists and winners and look forward to watching their bright futures develop further.”
Hot on the heels of presenting the Apprentice of the Year Awards, Building Plymouth and Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group are hosting an Early Careers Fair this Saturday 15 February, 10am to 2pm at Home Park for local people seeking apprenticeships, graduate opportunities and jobs in construction and manufacturing.