Creating a royal flush
As a Spurs fan, Jake Vinnicombe has his own view on the Olympic legacy.
The 20-year-old can see the Olympic stadium from his flat window in the Isle of Dogs and rumours that his favourite team is interested in taking it on after the Games is something he can support.
Jake has been working on the site since last October as a heating and ventilation apprentice. He works for Imtech Meica (IM), a technical services provider, and was working on jobs at a welding factory and Imperial College before moving on to the east London site. ‘It does make me feel special working here,’ he said. ‘Everyone wants to know about what it is like. I am getting a wonderful preview and I have been working in the Royal Box.’ He was also one of a number of apprentices who Tessa Jowell, the former Olympics minister, was introduced to when she visited the site.
Jake has been working with the teams putting toilets in the main stadium and in the pumps houses, plant rooms and tanks responsible for the water supply needed for facilities and air conditioning for the Olympic Park. He is studying for his heating and ventilation qualifications at Stratford and has two years to go before he will be fully qualified.
He said: ‘The range of work has been brilliant for someone like me learning the trade. It is also great to be paid while I am training – it is certainly an incentive to make sure I turn up at college. I have also been able to do other training, including gas fitting.’
IM is a Dutch company with offices around the globe. Jake said: ‘It would be good to get a job with them in a warmer climate. My ambition, however, is to become a foreman. A lot of the managers at IM started as apprentices, so that gives me confidence that I can go on from this first step for me in a career in this industry.’
