Balfour Beatty is encouraging thousands of young people across the UK to consider a career in construction as it delivered its third live and interactive broadcast event, Construction LIVE.
In collaboration with Scape Group and Learn Live, Balfour Beatty hosted the careers-focused event at Scarborough College in North Yorkshire, broadcasting the virtual event to over 42,000 young people.
The panel included Balfour Beatty professionals, apprentices and graduates sharing insights into the industry and discussing the exciting developments happening within the construction industry.
The live event focused on the coastal protection works that Balfour Beatty is currently delivering on behalf of Scarborough Borough Council to stabilise the cliffs behind Scarborough’s historic Spa building, showcasing how drone technology was used to support the scheme and the wider industry in 2019.
The Construction LIVE initiative also provides a pathway to the construction industry through work placements, site tours, classroom visits and an innovative chat facility, which allows young people across the UK to speak to Balfour Beatty’s cohort of experts, apprentices and graduates at any time.
Thomas Edgcumbe, Balfour Beatty Managing Director for its North and Midlands regional business, said: “Construction LIVE is a fantastic initiative which provides insight into our industry for young people who may not otherwise have considered a career in this area.
“We are deeply committed to closing the skills gap, and through broadcasts like this, we are able to tackle this industry-wide issue by engaging with a wide audience of schools and colleges, while showing them what fantastic long-term opportunities derive from a career in construction.”
Mark Robinson, Scape Group Chief Executive said: “Scape is proud to be working in partnership with Balfour Beatty and Learn Live to inspire the next generation and ensure that our future workforce is full of talented, vibrant individuals who will drive forward the innovation we need to support the UK’s construction needs.
“Initiatives such as Construction LIVE provide young people across the country with an unrivalled insight into the world of construction and play a vital part in improving the image of career in construction.
Lisa Jacklin, Careers Leader at one of the schools involved, South Axholme Academy, said: “Students at South Axholme Academy have had the most amazing experience today as part of the Construction Live event, facilitated by Learn Live.
“As Careers Leader, I am always looking for innovative ways to challenge and engage learners about their futures and get them to consider the career path they may want to follow. Students really loved the activity today and were totally engrossed in their questioning of panelists.”
After the event, one student commented: "That was brilliant. I now know what I want to do when I leave school."
Following the Construction LIVE event, Balfour Beatty’s Scarborough cliff stabilisation project received a third Considerate Constructors point for innovation and original thinking, having been award the first in 2015 and the second in 2016.
The event 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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Poppy Watters
Balfour Beatty
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Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty (balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 26,000 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 Hong Kong. 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.
- Our portfolio of current projects includes the £10m Midlands Metropolitan hospital early works contract, the delivery of two contracts for HS2 worth a combined total of c.£2.5billion, The University of Manchester’s £287m Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD), representing one of the largest capital developments ever undertaken by a UK higher education institution, and sections of the Manchester Smart Motorways scheme for Highways England. Other live projects include the £40.7m New Cross Student Development in Manchester which will feature 274 student apartments, the £46.3m A487 Caernarfon to Bontnewydd carriageway with seven bridges and 12 culverts, and the £21.3m Hornsea HOW2 substation contract comprising of foundations, buildings and M&E works.
- Completed projects include the £50m ‘Diamond’ building at the University of Sheffield, the £14m mechanical and electrical services for the new National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester and a £22.5m new teaching and lecture space at Sheffield Hallam University. Balfour Beatty has also recently completed the £27m Anchorsholme coastal defence scheme on behalf of Blackpool Council, and the Gateshead District Energy Centre, one of the North East region’s first energy centres, which will generate and supply heat and power for homes, businesses and public buildings across Gateshead Town Centre. We have also delivered an £85m automotive research facility for the University of Warwick in Coventry.
- 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. Chief Executive Leo Quinn was the founding member of the 5% Club. The Company is committed to ensuring that, within five years of joining, at least 5% of its workforce consists of Apprentices, Graduates and Sponsored Students.
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 1,800 currently in progress. In 2018, Scape Group was named the ‘Best Client to Work With’ across the public and private sector, at the annual Construction Enquirer Awards for the third consecutive year.
