New industry wide scheme to showcase construction talent

A fresh approach to National Construction Week was unveiled this week at events in London and the West Midlands, as ConstructionSkills launched Construction Showcase – an industry wide scheme that will give construction employers, schools and colleges the opportunity to showcase the careers and opportunities that are available in the construction industry.

Construction Showcase will give a new lease of life to the hugely successful National Construction Week (NCW) by giving employers more opportunities to showcase their talent and promote their business all year round. 

Employers who get involved in National Construction Showcase will be encouraged to use the Construction Showcase “quality mark”, as well as promoting their events on the Construction Showcase website www.constructionshowcase.co.uk. They will also be able tap into ConstructionSkills online campaigns for young people that run on BEBO and www.bconstructive.co.uk.

The scheme was launched with events at the Skills for London exhibition at the ExCel Centre, London on 20-22 November, and in Dudley, West Midlands, between 17 and 22 November.

The Skills for London careers expo attracts up to 40,000 young people aged between 14-19 every year, from Greater London and the Home Counties.

 The Construction Showcase area, run in partnership with the National Training Heritage Group, gave young people the opportunity to find out more about the construction careers that are available and they can even have a go to see for themselves whether a career is right for them.

The workshop included demonstrations and “have a go” sessions from tradespeople and professionals – including stonemasons, bricklayers, thatchers, joiners and architects and civil engineers. Some of these were identified as ‘trades at risk’ by the National Heritage Training Group in their 2008 report – but proved very popular on the day.

In Dudley, advice workshops were arranged for bricklaying, carpentry, painting and decorating and there was a session for women and those from black and ethnic minority communities wanting a career in construction. An extra session covered setting up businesses, and there are tours and open days too.

Sir Michael Latham, chairman of ConstructionSkills, the high performing Sector Skills Council for the industry, and Roy Cavanagh of Seddon Group joined ConstructionSkills Careers Advisors at the London event to officially launch Construction Showcase and to give young people help, advice and information about construction careers. London mayor Boris Johnson came along to find out more and ‘have a go’ at the trades.

Visitors had the opportunity to talk to experts and could even win an I-pod if they entered the Construction Challenge competition on the stand.

NCW has been hugely successful, but feedback from industry indicates that it places a lot of pressure on firms and schools to organise events at a fixed time.

Roy Cavanagh, training manager at Seddon Group, said: “Construction Showcase will operate all year round, and cover all kinds of events. This means that employers can showcase their talent all year round and it gives young people the opportunity to find out more about careers a time that is best for them and not restricted to one week in October.”

He added: “Construction is a great career option and the opportunities are boundless. During these difficult times, we need to invest in training more than ever before so that we are ready for the upturn to our industry when it comes. These Construction Showcase events will help us to attract bright young people to the industry when we need it most and so Construction Showcase is vital to the future success of our industry.”

National launch events are also planned for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Visit www.constructionshowcase.co.uk for more details.

Notes to editors

To arrange an interview with Roy Cavanagh or Sir Michael Latham about Construction Showcase, or to find out more, please contact Sara McKinnon in the ConstructionSkills press office on 0300 4565401 or sara.mckinnon@cskills.org.