Apprenticeships · AMPM Academy
Serve your time with us.
"Time served" means you came through your apprenticeship properly. That's what we run: real training on real sites, with engineers who take the standard seriously, in a company the people who work here own. Four routes, all paid from day one, all with a named Mentor.
Register your interest How the Academy ladder works
The routes
Four trades you can start in
Each route follows a recognised apprenticeship standard, delivered with a registered training provider or college for the qualification and on our sites for the trade.
Fire and security systems
Fire, Emergency and Security Systems Technician, Level 3
Gemini AMPM · around 3 years, intakes every 4 months →
Electrical installation
Installation and Maintenance Electrician, Level 3
AMPM Building Services · around 4 years, including the AM2 assessment →
Plumbing, heating and mechanical
Plumbing and Domestic Heating Technician, Level 3, or Building Services Engineering routes
AMPM Building Services · around 4 years →
Passive fire and fire doors
Passive Fire Protection Installer, Level 2
Gemini AMPM · around 2 years →Fire and security systems
Fire, Emergency and Security Systems Technician, Level 3 · around 3 years, intakes every 4 months · Gemini AMPM Ltd
What you learn: Fire detection and alarm to BS 5839, intruder alarms, CCTV and access control, emergency lighting; installation, commissioning, service and fault-finding on live sites.
Where it leads: Fire alarm or security systems engineer with a van, a patch and manufacturer training behind you. The core trade of the group since 1997. About the trade →
Electrical installation
Installation and Maintenance Electrician, Level 3 · around 4 years, including the AM2 assessment · AMPM Building Services Ltd
What you learn: Containment, cabling, distribution boards, testing and inspection to BS 7671 (18th Edition), on commercial buildings, schools and residential blocks.
Where it leads: A qualified electrician, with the fire and security cross-training that the group's small works and install teams are built on. About the trade →
Plumbing, heating and mechanical
Plumbing and Domestic Heating Technician, Level 3, or Building Services Engineering routes · around 4 years · AMPM Building Services Ltd
What you learn: Pipework, heating and hot water systems, plant rooms and mechanical services, from first fix to commissioning and maintenance.
Where it leads: A mechanical or plumbing engineer on the group's maintenance and fit-out work across London and the South East. About the trade →
Passive fire and fire doors
Passive Fire Protection Installer, Level 2 · around 2 years · Gemini AMPM Ltd
What you learn: Fire doors, firestopping and compartmentation: the work that stops a fire moving through a building, done to the manufacturer's evidence and third-party certification schemes.
Where it leads: A fire door installer or firestopper, and the surveying and job-management path that follows. About the trade →
How it works
A Mentor, not a manager.
From week one you are paired with a Mentor: a qualified engineer on the AMPM Academy ladder who is chosen for it and given the time to teach. You travel with them, work their sites, and learn the standard the way it is actually held, not the way a textbook describes it.
College or the training provider covers the qualification, usually a day a week. The other four days are real work on real buildings across London and the South East. Progress is checked against the ladder, so you always know what "good" looks like and what the next step is.
A trade AI can't do
Half the careers a school leaver gets pointed at happen on a screen, and AI is coming for screen work fast. It is not coming for this. No software hangs a fire door, wires a panel, commissions a sprinkler valve or crawls a riser with a torch. The trades we train are hands-on, certificated and needed in every building in the country, and they get more valuable as automation eats the desk jobs, not less.
For parents and teachers
The AMPM Group is an established engineering group working across London and the South East since 1997; Gemini AMPM is employee-owned. Apprentices earn while they train, work alongside qualified engineers, and finish with a qualification employers recognise anywhere. The people who run the group all started as apprentices themselves. Questions are welcome: call 0330 043 0080 and a human answers.
Straight answers
How old do I need to be?
Sixteen or over. Most apprentices join straight from school or college, but there is no upper age limit, and people switching trade in their twenties and thirties do well here.
What qualifications do I need to start?
GCSEs in English and maths help, usually grade 4 or above, but the training provider can support functional skills alongside the apprenticeship if you do not have them. What we look for is reliability, a willingness to learn and an interest in how buildings work.
Do I get paid?
Yes, from day one. Apprenticeships are paid jobs with a training plan, not courses. Pay rises as you progress through the years and the ladder.
Who does the training?
Two sides. The qualification is delivered by a registered training provider or a further education college, usually one day a week or in blocks. The trade is learned on our sites, alongside a named Mentor from the AMPM Academy: a qualified engineer who is given time in their week to teach you.
Do I need a driving licence?
Not to start. It matters by the time you are working your own patch, so most apprentices learn to drive during the apprenticeship. Early on you travel with your Mentor.
What happens at the end?
You are time served: qualified, certificated and known to the team. Most apprentices stay on as engineers and move up the Academy ladder. Gemini AMPM is employee-owned, so staying means owning part of the company you trained in.
When is the next intake?
It depends on the route. The fire and security systems course runs a new intake every four months, so you are never more than a few months from a start. The electrical and mechanical routes follow the college year, with September the main start. Register your interest and a human tells you when the next places open.
How to apply
Register your interest and pick the trade closest to what you want. No CV yet is normal at your stage: the form has a "no CV" path with three quick questions, or email cv@timeserved.uk with "Apprentice" as the subject and a couple of sentences about yourself. A human reads it within three working days and tells you when the next places open.
The AMPM Academy · The trades · Jobs in Burgess Hill · Employee ownership