TWO apprentices at York-based Portasilo have been recognised for their "talent and dedication".

Young engineers Jade Luck, in her final year of a fabrication and welding apprenticeship, and first year apprentice Dan Middlemass, picked up prizes at the annual Apprentice of the Year Awards held by Derwent Training Association (DTA).

Miss Luck received the inaugural Lord Derwent Award for Effort and Achievement from DTA’s patron, while Dan Middlemass received the Fabrication and Welding Apprentice of the Year Award for first year apprentices from Anne McIntosh MP.

Portasilo, which manufactures bulk storage and materials handling equipment for a global customer base. has been running an apprenticeship scheme for ten years.

Currently there are ten apprentices working at Portasilo, which has a workforce of 150 including ten based in India.

All the apprentices work on multi-million pound projects designing and building bulk storage components which are constructed in the company’s advanced manufacturing facility in York.

Recent projects include two 85m-tall storage silos for Drax Power Station in Selby as part of a scheme to transform it into a predominantly biomass-fuelled generator.