SOMETIMES the simplest of acts can make the difference to someone’s life.

The bosses at developers, Chase Norton are one such company who decided to give someone a chance when they helped Paul Higgs to leave his job repairing toasters.

Paul became a construction worker on the company’s #15 million apartment development at Commercial Street in Birmingham – its largest project to date.

Martin Smith, Chase Norton site manager at Commercial Street, explained: “It all happened when Chase was building the #1.3 million Wyrley Birch community centre in Erdington. Paul, who at the time had a job fixing irons and toasters in a local hardware store, regularly came on to site and asked Tony Quinn, the site manager there, if he had any work.

“There was nothing available at Wyrley Birch but there were opportunities at our Commercial Street project. Tony spotted Paul’s potential and referred him to me for consideration on site.”

The Commercial Street project, at the back of the Mailbox in Birmingham, is certainly a good starting point for Paul. Since starting with Chase he has been following the company’s training programme which, amongst other activities, involves shadowing experienced employees at the Commercial Street site.

The programme is also enabling him to learn new skills that will allow him to grow within the company and take over from the more experienced construction tradespeople when they retire.

Alistair Lindsay, Managing Director of Chase Norton Construction said: “It is predicted that 5,000 new construction workers are required in Birmingham and Solihull over the next four years, and with a quarter of construction companies experiencing recruitment difficulties and a fifth being held back by skills shortages, just how these figures are going to be achieved is a worry to us all.

“So when someone as enthusiastic and motivated as Paul walks on to site, it is certainly to our advantage. However, it is not enough to just give him a chance and offer him some work, it is important that we channel his enthusiasm and set him on an appropriate training programme that will furnish him with the right skills to grow within the company.

 “There is no escaping the construction skills shortage and companies in and around the region need to make sure that they lay emphasis on their training programmes, invest in staff at all levels and retain and train them up within the business. At the end of the day, it means that you end up with a better skilled workforce, which in turn leads to a more efficiently run business.”