Connor Leatt – My journey from Apprentice to Site Supervisor

We’re constantly banging on about the career opportunities in Engineering so, to celebrate the end of National Apprenticeship Week 2024, we’d like to share Connor Leatt’s journey from Kimpton apprentice to Site Supervisor!

“I knew of Kimpton growing up, as my family worked in the construction industry. I joined them as an Apprentice Pipe Fitter when I was sixteen. It was a four year block release apprenticeship which suited me well as you went to college for six, two week blocks per year and the rest of the time you were on site putting what you’d learnt into practice.

I now have an NVQ Diploma in Industrial and Commercial Heating and Ventilation Engineering, Levels two and three, as well as my First Aid and Site Supervisors Certs, so my learning has continued.

I’ve never been afraid to learn, as I’m keen to push myself and progress as far as I can. I look at the team running the Kimpton business and a lot of them started as apprentices, so that’s where I’m aiming.

I’m now in my tenth year and have recently been promoted to the role of Site Supervisor. This carries a lot of responsibility as I’m managing all of the Mechanical and Electrical subcontractors on site, for projects that can be up to £8m in value.

On a day to day basis I can be liaising with builders, sorting problems and occasionally I’m back on the tools. Having a background of actually working on site has been invaluable in allowing me to progress to leading the teams on site. I’ve encountered lots of the issues they may face, so know how to solve them.

I’ve spent much of my career so far working away on site on projects, which is great fun when you’re young, but tougher now I have an eight week old baby boy. The only upside is that I guess I do get more sleep and it makes the time at home extra special.

There was a lot of trust shown towards me from quite early on and I loved the opportunities I was given and jumped at them. The first project I ran solo was a bathroom refurbishment for one of Kimpton’s very long standing clients and that went well, so the projects they trusted me with have continued to grow in scale.

The first really big one was being second in command on the Avril Robarts refurbishment for LJMU. This was part of a £6.5m project for us and very high profile.

It’s been quite journey so far and the underlying theme I would say is that if you show initiative, listen and learn, you will progress quickly and have a bright future. I’m not sure I understood how many doors my apprenticeship would open when I started, but it definitely has and I can look back on what a good decision it was.”