Balfour Beatty is continuing its efforts to bridge the industry’s skills shortage through its collaboration with Scape Group, the public sector owned built environment specialist. Over the last three years, through the Scape National Civil Engineering and Infrastructure framework, Balfour Beatty has engaged with over 22,000 students in various events across the UK, to help them learn about the wide range of rewarding careers available across the construction and engineering industry.
Aimed at opening up the industry to students from different backgrounds and cultures, Balfour Beatty organised a series of live interactive broadcasts, site tours and classroom visits, allowing students to observe engineering works being undertaken from the top of a tower crane, ask questions of industry specialists and venture out on construction sites in Perth and Kinross.
Phil Wright, Balfour Beatty’s Scape National Framework Director, said: “Bridging the skills shortage is one of the biggest challenges our industry is currently facing. If we are to continue delivering the pipeline of new infrastructure the UK needs, we need to ensure we are attracting talented young people to a career in construction.
“We are actively engaging with students from all ages to provide them with the opportunity to understand the vast array of projects we deliver and how they could be involved in the future through numerous, interactive platforms.”
Victoria Brambini, Managing Director of Scape Procure, commented: “The number of students Balfour Beatty has engaged with is a really encouraging outcome. It highlights the added value that can be achieved through construction projects when the public and private sectors work in strong collaboration. Inspiring the next generation to build brighter futures and careers in the construction industry is key as we seek to address the skills shortage and meet the UK’s infrastructure requirements.”
With over 150 schools already engaged, Balfour Beatty is planning to reach thousands more students with further activities planned in Warrington, Dundee, and Cardiff. The approach further supports Balfour Beatty’s commitment to The 5% Club, a UK employer-led initiative focused on creating momentum behind the recruitment of apprentices and graduates into the workforce.
ENDS
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Vivienne Dunn
Balfour Beatty
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Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 30,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
- Our main geographies are the UK, US and Far East. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
- Balfour Beatty is a member of ‘The 5% Club’, a UK employer-led initiative focused on creating momentum behind the recruitment of apprentices and graduates into the workforce. The company was the first in the infrastructure industry to join in 2014. Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Leo Quinn was The 5% Club’s founding member.
- The 5% Club works with UK employers and key influencers to inspire, educate and retain a growing body of people into “earn and learn” placements in order to increase the number of apprentices, sponsored students and graduates. The goal of The 5% Club is to increase the employment and career prospects of today’s youth and equip the UK with the skilled workforce it needs to safeguard Britain’s economy.
- Balfour Beatty is one of the UK’s leading infrastructure providers, with a portfolio which includes a sole contractor position on the £1.5 billion, four year Scape National Civil Engineering and Infrastructure framework. The framework allows Public Sector clients to commission works through a procurement process that provides the fastest route to market and utilises early contractor engagement to deliver the best value engineering solutions.
- Significant projects in the company’s current Scape portfolio include the £35 million A9/A85 Crieff Road junction improvements for Perth and Kinross Council which will alleviate congestion, enhance accessibility to the city and unlock £500 million of economic growth for the local economy and the£11 million Carnival Pool Multi Storey Car Park for Wokingham Borough Council.
- With the Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Framework available to any public sector body and with over 350 organisations in its portfolio, Balfour Beatty works with a variety of clients to deliver successful schemes to enhance communities and deliver social and economic benefits through the use of a local supply chain.
About Scape Group:
- Scape Group is a public-sector organisation, dedicated to creating ongoing efficiency and social value via the built environment. Scape and its subsidiaries offer fully managed frameworks, property services, innovative design solutions, community investment opportunities and joint ventures.
- By bringing together the strongest teams from the public and private sectors, Scape’s rapidly deployed, highly measurable and collaborative approach delivers value for money and quality buildings whilst stimulating local economic growth and community enrichment. Scape operates with a buying capacity of around £13bn and has helped to deliver over 2,400 public sector projects with more than 1,700 currently in progress. In 2017, Scape Group was named the ‘Best Client to Work With’ across the public and private sector, at the annual Construction Enquirer Awards.
- For more information visit: www.scape.co.uk
