Member Article

Kit Malthouse MP takes tour of Andover development

North West Hampshire MP, Kit Malthouse has been learning more about new homes in his constituency during a visit to the David Wilson Homes development in Andover.

Locksbridge Park is providing 530 homes and is being developed by David Wilson Homes and Barratt Homes with 40 per cent affordable housing.

Development benefits also include £2.8 million towards local education, allotments, a multi-use games area and improvements to transport infrastructure.

The Conservative MP met with staff form David Wilson Homes, including one of the company’s apprentices and learnt more about the five star developer’s commitment to training.

Paul Crispin, managing director of David Wilson Homes Southern, said: “The construction industry has an important role to play in helping to nurture the next generation of employees, it’s not just the responsibility of schools and colleges. That’s why we are committed to taking on local apprentices and giving them the hands-on experience they need to develop in their careers.

“Kit Malthouse’s visit was a fantastic opportunity for us to hear about the Government’s plans to support apprentices and for us to report back on how companies like ours are playing our part.”

Kit Malthouse, MP for North West Hampshire, said: “It was great to see the care and attention being taken at Locksbridge Park, both in terms of design quality and social impact. In particular I was impressed by David Wilson Homes’ big commitment to training apprentices - so vital for the future - and their desire to create a new community that knits well with the existing village.”

Barratt Developments, which includes David Wilson Homes, was named the best employer of apprentices in the country at the National Apprentices Award last year. It has created more than 3,000 new jobs in the last year alone, and has pledged to take on 1,100 apprentices, graduates and trainees between 2014 and 2016 and was recently named as one of the top 10 apprenticeship employers in the STEM sector – as ranked by the Apprenticeship Careers List.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Wilson Homes .