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Stars of the Future 2021

Nominations are now open for the Construction Plant-hire Association’s (CPA) Stars of the Future apprentice and trainee awards for 2021. A total of six national titles are up for grabs and nominations are welcomed from plant-hire companies, manufacturers, contractors, suppliers and others operating in the construction plant sector with apprentices and trainees in their workforce. The Stars of the Future winners will be announced at an awards ceremony being hosted on Thursday July 1st 2021. The closing date for nominations is Wednesday March 31st 2021 and nomination forms are available now on the CPA website at www.cpa.uk.net.

Stars of the Future is a national awards scheme for apprentices and trainees in the construction plant-hire industry, organised by the CPA, the leading trade association for the plant-hire sector in the UK. The CPA has over 1,700 members who supply 85% of hired plant to the construction industry. The awards categories for 2021 comprise Plant Mechanic of the Year (Level 2), Plant Technician of the Year (Level 3), Plant Operative of the Year, Lifting Technician of the Year, Hire Controller of the Year and a brand new category for Plant Installer of the Year. The CPA has decided to introduce the ‘Plant Installer of the Year’ award due to the number of trainees undertaking what is a dedicated occupation that builds, installs and in most cases, dismantles plant from a component base to one configured for operational activities. These would typically include tower cranes, crawler cranes, mobile cranes, hoists, tunnelling and material processing equipment.

Although a formalised apprenticeship for this occupation has yet to be devised, the CPA entry criteria requires that applicant trainees are on an employer-programmed training programme of at least 12 months duration and working towards or holding either the Plant Installations NVQ or SVQ or other form of formal occupational competence-based qualification for the machine type. A training programme for tower crane and hoist installers has been devised by the respective interest groups in conjunction with CITB and the Plant Installer occupation is listed as a CSCS category.

Stars of the Future winners will be in contention for a number of prizes, as well as national recognition. Previous prizes have included Snap-on tool kits, iPads and an all-expenses paid trip to Germany to visit a Liebherr crane manufacturing plant. The national winners for Stars of the Future 2020 were Adam Rees of Machinery Movements and Crane Hire (Plant Mechanic of the Year), Rhys Nigel John of Marubeni-Komatsu (Plant Technician of the Year), Danielle Taylor of Flannery Plant Hire (Plant Operative of the Year), Luke Reddish of Wolffkran (Lifting Technician of the Year), Iveta Tomasevska of Flannery Plant Hire (Hire Controller of the Year), Senghan Carr of L Lynch Plant Hire (CPA Award for Best Personal Statement) and Scott Laurenson of EMN Plant (Judges’ Special Award).

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