Five years and a pandemic later, Accxel has moved from the two temporary office buildings into a £3million training centre. Originally trained as a solicitor, King left the legal profession to work as a land manager for Kier Living and rose through the ranks of the contractor’s former housing company before joining her sister at Accxel. Bird continues to work for Bell as director of security and business development. The next batch of apprentices is due to start in September, while another cohort is halfway through an apprenticeship program to earn an NVQ. This course served as a precursor to the company’s follow-up training, which was fully rolled out in 2020. They developed a groundwork apprenticeship program in 2017 and with two temporary offices, one at this Cinderford site and the other in Cardiff, around 23 apprentices began training in 2018. We take the recruiting headache away from employers.” Natalie King, Accxelīird, who originally trained as a beautician in Cardiff, was spending four years in the family’s construction business when she saw a plot of land next to KM Bell’s main office was vacant. “All trainees who come have a guaranteed job when they leave. And for people who want to get into the construction industry, it opens doors.” We take the recruiting headache away from employers. It was about putting a mark in the ground and saying, “We’re going to change the face of construction.” King, Accxel’s growth and partnerships director, says: “People coming from FE College or receive their one-day construction skills certification program card are not industrial grade. Apprentices who enroll are matched to an employer and should have a job to go to if they qualify. We have Ages range from 22 to 60, and some haven’t been in a classroom since they left school.” bring in contractorsĪccxel intends to overhaul the way training is delivered by bringing in contractors. But since this is about building builders, they feel like they belong here. if you tell them They often don’t go to college or university – they feel completely intimidated. “People come to construction because they often know someone who can give them a job.

Natalie King and Nicola Bird say the initial spur to setting up Accxel came from frustration at not being able to find properly trained workers for family business KM Bell, an £80m company started by their grandfather that operates across Wales and the United States operates in the South West from its base in Cinderford, Gloucestershire.īird, Founder and CEO of Accxel, notes that building can be inherently cliquey, making it more of a challenge to get workers into a classroom.

Bird bell hat