The recipients of the 2022 Nittan Shield Fire Engineering Apprentice of the Year at South Eastern Regional College (SERC) have been unveiled.

Two Level 3 Fire & Security Apprentices at SERC, Alexander Wallace (Saintfield) employed by Building Protection Systems (NI) Ltd and Jonny Hamilton (Bangor) employed by Atlas World, are the first to share the Award.

SERC Fire and Security Lecturer Robin Hamill said: "This Award reflects both young men's performance throughout the year, not only in competitions – both achieved podium places at SkillBuild, and Alexander, a Gold Medal Winner at WorldSkillsUK Finals – but how they conduct themselves at work and in the College, as well as how they get on with their coursework and assignments. It was impossible to find a find fault with either of them which is why they are both commended for their efforts and achievements and recognised with the Apprentice of the Year Award."

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Lee James, Nittan Europe Ltd, General Manager for Product Marketing commented: "As a manufacturer, Nittan value and fully support the work being done by SERC, and by our Elite Partner for Northern Ireland, Solutions for Systems, who take the time to train and support these apprentices. Nittan work closely with both organisations to ensure the College has the industry leading products it needs to train the apprentices and to get the Fire Engineering Apprentice of the Year Award underway.

"The fire industry represents a good career choice, with engineers always in demand, and with the current skills gap now more than ever, we need to ensure young people have the training resources they need to be able to learn and develop the appropriate skills."