The surveying and valuations firm says its Level 6 Chartered Surveyor (Real Estate) Degree Apprenticeship is aimed at school leavers and existing employees within companies who do not currently have a relevant degree.

Students are placed in SDL Surveying for five years, and also work at the university for vocational and theoretical training.

In years one to three, they will be rotated around various departments within the business, providing them with rounded business knowledge and experience.

In years four and five, they will work with SDL Surveying’s audit and technical teams to gain more specific surveying knowledge – each student will have a mentor from the business, and they will shadow experienced surveyors on site.

At the end of the five years, students will have achieved a degree-level qualification and Chartered Member Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accreditation.

SDL Surveying currently has three apprentice surveyors working through the course from its Nottingham offices – Tom Walford, Caitlin True and James Morris.

SDL Surveying managing director Simon Jackson: “This is a brand-new initiative for SDL Surveying and we’re working closely with Nottingham Trent University to run an excellent course and to ensure our apprentices get the type of learning and experience they need in order to start their careers as surveyors.

“We’re pleased to have Tom, Caitlin and James currently working out of our Nottingham office as our first students and they’ll be learning everything there is to know about what we do and what is required as a surveyor.

“There is always a gap for excellent surveyors, and we believe with this course we’ll be delivering a growing number of next-generation professionals who will set the highest of standards in the work they go on to carry out.

“These three are just the first of many who will benefit from this new scheme.”