Build The Olympics

Train in Construction and you could be part of it!

This year work began on the construction of the Olympic Park in London’s Lower Lea Valley. This huge construction project, that has to deliver on time and to target, will totally transform the area and leave a lasting legacy that will benefit the UK in years to come. There has therefore never been a better time to consider a career in construction. Train today and you could be part of global history!

The Lower Lea Valley

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the catalyst for the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley in east London. The area in and around the Olympic Park is a site of huge potential. It has a young, diverse community but is also home to significant areas of deprivation.

Much of the site itself is contaminated, derelict and abandoned. The waterways in the area have suffered from years of neglect: water quality is poor, river walls are in a bad condition and the landscape is scarred with abandoned shopping trolleys and other rubbish strewn along the river channels.

The 2012 Games will help to revitalise this part of London and help to open the east of the capital to development opportunities. The new shopping area at Stratford City will be an important part of this growth.

The Olympic Park
The creation of one of the largest new urban parks in Europe in 150 years will bring new homes for Londoners, vastly improved transport links and world-class sports facilities available for the local community.

The development of the Olympic Park will deliver numerous benefits.

• Significant employment and business opportunities will arise as a result of the development, with jobs being created in the construction and operation of the Olympic Park and development after the Games.
• Over 4,000 new homes will be built for the Olympic Village; these will be converted post-Games to form newly created neighbourhoods with new local schools, community and health facilities, as well as appropriate utilities, roads, and transport infrastructure. Significant amounts of additional housing will also be developed on and around the Games site as a result of the positive impact of this investment in social and physical infrastructure.
• The parklands will restore and enhance the recreational and ecological role of this important river valley. It will become part of London’s famed network of green spaces – connecting the 26km of the Lea Valley Regional Park in the north to the canal networks and river corridors that connect with the River Thames in the south.
• The Park will also host a mix of world-class sports venues and training facilities. It will also be a place for recreational cycling, walking, bird watching, fishing, wetland and outdoor classrooms.
• New roads, bridges, footpaths and cycle ways will help bring the communities around the park together.

Get Involved With a Career in Construction
A Career in Construction can offer you a lot more than you thought. Believe it or not, there’s a lot more to construction than meets the eye and there’s no shortage of jobs for those who’ve got the right skills. 

There’s an amazing variety of jobs, ranging from project management to carpentry, IT to marketing, computer aided design to engineering, and accountancy to town and country planning.  It’s a professional industry, offering great scope for making an impression on the world we live in.  Add to this the bonus of earning a decent wage and having opportunities to travel and work your way to the top, and you can easily see the rewards that a career in construction has to offer.

Routes into Construction
Choosing a career in construction is a very smart move.  You can get in at all levels, from the age of 16 onwards, regardless of existing qualifications.  For a start, you won't be going it alone: thousands of young people enter the industry each year in the UK, joining a team of specialists all working together to build a long-lasting future. 

Perhaps you've got an idea what you want to do already?  You'll find it's not all about bricks and mortar!

Craft

If you know which area of construction you are interested in – like plumbing or bricklaying – apprenticeships allow you to learn, work, earn and get qualified all at the same time.  You can start an apprenticeship at 16, regardless of your existing qualifications.  Apprenticeships last between one and two years where you work towards a National Vocational Qualification, based partly on-site and partly in college.  At the end of it, you'll be trained and qualified with a promising future in an exciting industry.  Crafts include painting and decorating, roof slating and tiling and carpentry and joinery.

Around 30,000 young people start an apprenticeship in the UK each year.  Almost a third of these are trained via CITB-ConstructionSkills’ Apprenticeship scheme. There are other routes, (check out www.bconstructive.co.uk for details) and you can also approach companies directly. Apprenticeships are well supported and many companies have excellent structured learning schemes.  Countless senior people in the industry today began as craft apprentices.

Technical

If you’re into maths, perhaps a career as a buyer or estimator might suit you?  Or if you’ve got a passion for computers, you might enjoy a career as a Computer Aided Design (CAD) operative.  If you’re technically minded and want to work in construction, you’ll be playing a key role overseeing projects or helping to plan them.  Technicians have to apply practical knowledge but do not necessarily carry out manual skills.  Studying for a technical career can be done by going to a further education college full-time or by working in a company and studying part-time.  This can follow on from GCSEs and A levels or Scottish Standard Grades and Highers.

Graduate Jobs in Construction

There are over 400 construction related university degrees and HNDs available at universities around Britain, from civil engineering and architecture to urban and environmental planning and surveying.  Graduates, with an appropriate degree, can expect a high level of responsibility when they enter the industry.  They will be trained for highly specialised or management positions.  Graduate construction jobs include assistant site manager, junior architect, site engineer and planner. 

Many construction companies offer sponsorship for students to either pursue a sandwich year degree course or to work while studying for a degree or HND.  Graduates today have a very high chance of securing a solid first job at a competitive salary compared to other industries.

What are you Waiting for?

There are loads of exciting and flexible routes into the industry, whether you're thinking of starting out as a bricklayer, plasterer, town planner or project manager, your work is going to be admired by people for years to come…and there aren't that many jobs you can say that about. 

Key facts:

• The construction industry is the UK’s largest employer, employing two million people (7% of the total workforce)
• The industry needs to attract 86,000 recruits across the UK, over the next four years, in order to meet growth and replace those leaving the industry
• Construction is in demand: the Government has allocated £76 billion for investment in public projects over the next five years, in addition to the £10 billion Cross rail Link project and £400 million for the Olympics.
• An average construction weekly wage starts at £411, 12% higher than the national average across all other industries

Real Prospects

• Be an important part of a team
• Make a real difference to the environment
• Enjoy a huge variety of work
• Loads of opportunities to work abroad
• Real job satisfaction
• Give yourself the freedom to start your own business
• Start at any level and work your way to the top
• Work towards a range of respected professional qualifications
• You can use your creative skills to the full
• Work with your hands and your head
  

Contacts & Organisations

Construction careers, apprenticeships, projects and case studies
www.bconstructive.co.uk

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