Now the summer holidays are over Lucas have had to say goodbye to some great young people that we hosted during their break and have all gained valuable experience working with the company before going back to their various studies.

They included Jack who shadowed Danny Lucas for a week and also spent time with our quantity surveyors. Jack hopes to be a QS himself one day so Lucas provided him with an insight into the world of commercial management.

Sam was keen to learn more about the way we apply new technologies in construction and spent some time with our client and partner, McLaren.

Lucinda, granddaughter of our paint chemist Dave Greenslade, and who did spectacularly well in her chemistry GCSE, spent much of her time with us in our paint laboratories learning about mixing, finishes and application techniques and we hope we may see her back at Lucas in the future. Another lad Joe gained plenty of experience working across Lucas before returning to his A-Levels and also may look into a future in quantity surveying.

We also expect a great future in the industry for one young lad we’ve taken on, Jamie Oliver (no relation to a certain chef!), who was named Johnstone’s Young Painter of the Year in 2013. Jamie values his time working with Lucas and he’s going back to college now which we’re funding, with the aim of adding to his growing list of industry qualifications.

“It is great to see the enthusiasm of these youngsters,” said Executive Chairman and Managing Director Danny Lucas. “We must encourage new talent with inquiring minds into construction and I’m pleased that we can play our part at Lucas to give them a first taste of real work experience.”