Facilities management company Servest has recruited 15 apprentices to join its cleaning contract team at the Houseses of Parliament in Westminster.

It is part of a wider drive by the Bury St Edmunds-based company, which employs more than 15,000 people at more than 4,500 sites across the UK, to employ 100 apprenteices across its businesses by October 2015.

The first 15 apprentices, who are aged between 19 and 24 and will be paid the London Living Wage, have committed to an initial year-long facilities management apprenticeship at the Parliamentary estate which contains more than 100 staircases, 1,100 rooms and three miles of corridors.

They will receive continuous on-the-job training on all aspects of cleaning, from using and maintaining cleaning machinery to the different types of flooring and the appropriate cleaning techniques for each environment.

At the end of their initial year, the apprentices will have the choice to continue with the cleaning discipline or choose another facilities management field such as catering, security or mechanical and electrical maintenance.

The aim of the five-year scheme is for apprentices have their own team supervisory role by the fourth year and an area management role in the fifth year.

The scheme is supported by Servest’s supplier base with organisations such as Craftex Cleaning Systems and HTC Floor Systems delivering training alongside the Sarina Russo Group, a Government-funded training provider of employment skills, which has been delivering training to Servest employees for several years.

“We are thrilled to be recruiting apprentices for our prestigious cleaning contract with the Houses of Parliament,” said Norma Bresciani, group strategic accounts director at Servest. “We need to attract more young, talented people into our industry in order to address the skills gap, and apprenticeships are a key way to do this.”

Servest, a member of the EADT/EDP Top 100 listing of the 100 largest companies in Suffolk and Norfolk, has also recruited nearly 20 apprentices at the BBC, where it delivers catering to 14,000 BBC staff and visitors at 18 locations across the broadcaster’s estate.

Over the course of the next 12 months, Servest plans to recruit around 65 more apprentices across other major contracts around the UK.