National Apprenticeship Week
We're proud to support National Apprenticeship Week. CEO, Lawrence Gosden highlights how developing our employees and bringing in new talent is essential to deliver our most ambitious investment programme in our history.
We’re proud to support National Apprenticeship Week
Water is the foundation of life. Every home, business and community depends on it. And as our region grows and our climate changes, the demands on the water industry are evolving faster than ever.
To deliver the essential upgrades our customers and communities expect, while protecting water supplies for future generations and enhancing our environment, the UK water sector needs to recruit 50,000 new people by 2030. It’s a once-in-a-generation shift, and achieving it will take new skills, new thinking and new talent.
This is particularly important at Southern Water, where we’re embarking on our most ambitious investment programme in our history. Developing our employees and bringing in new talent is essential to this.
That’s why we’re proud to support National Apprenticeship Week. It highlights the value of apprenticeships, raises awareness of the varied career paths available, and shines a light on roles that aren't always obvious from the outside.
We have a total of 135 employees now studying apprenticeships across the business and want to welcome a further 42 apprentices by the end of this year, with a focus on developing skills in areas such as AI and Intelligence, Procurement and Asset Maintenance. This is double the amount we employed last year, and we will continue to grow our pathways over the next five years to help strengthen our workforce to help us meet rising demands and shape the future of our sector.
Across Southern Water, apprentices can build careers in areas such as:
- Environmental protection and biodiversity: our catchment team includes environmentalists dedicated to rewilding rivers, improving habitats and protecting native species.
- Major engineering and construction: from the Southampton Link Main to the Havant Thicket Reservoir, apprentices support big infrastructure projects that will secure future water supplies.
- Innovative water sources and technology: new approaches like water recycling, smart networks and advanced leakage detection need people who are willing to push boundaries.
- Essential enabling functions: HR, communications, finance, digital, customer experience – all of these areas are vital to running a modern water company and keeping services reliable for millions.
This is a sector for people who want to contribute to something meaningful and apprenticeships can create a powerful bridge between the hands-on expertise of today’s workforce and the fresh thinking of tomorrows. Many of our colleagues have decades of practical experience, the kind you only develop by working across our network and solving real-world challenges. A significant proportion of these skilled professionals will retire over the coming years, and we need to act now to ensure their knowledge is passed on.
And apprenticeships aren’t only for those at the start of their career. They support people of all ages, career changers, industry returners, and anyone eager to gain new skills in a sector with long-term purpose.
We’re on a long journey to improve our performance, rebuild trust and modernise our network. Apprentices will be at the heart of this, learning from those who’ve kept this vital system running for decades and bringing bold ideas that challenge us to do better.
So, as we mark National Apprenticeship Week, I’d encourage anyone who wants practical skills, real-world experience and meaningful work to seriously consider what an apprenticeship in the water industry could offer you.
If you’re interested, dive right in.