Redrow has expanded its housebuilding degree programme is now looking for 12 school leavers from across the UK to take part in it.
Launched in 2017 in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Coleg Cambria, this pioneering qualification takes three years and aims to provide participants with the skills to become a housebuilding construction manager. The new students will start working for the housebuilder this September and begin their studies next January.
Until now, the has been offered to current employees with a Level 3 qualification, or a minimum five years in the industry, who would embark on the programme, attaining a BSc (Hons) Construction Management in Housebuilding. But now Redrow is directly targeting school leavers with three A-Level pass grades or a BTEC Level 3.
The company’s own research this year found that almost half (42%) of young adults are not receiving information about careers in construction at school. To attract talent to its workforce, Redrow fully funds its degree, which covers a spectrum of knowledge and skills essential to the construction manager role, including assessing quality, project management, health and safety, business skills, and negotiation, together with aspects of economics, law, mathematics.
Each year, the course combines six block weeks of classroom learning taught in partnership between LJMU’s Department of the Built Environment, Coleg Cambria and Redrow business experts, with classroom learning, practical site visits and tutorials. This work/study combination is assessed in a variety of ways including presentations, examinations, coursework and a final year dissertation project.
Karen Jones, HR director at Redrow, commented: “We launched our degree programme to expose more young women and men to the hundreds of career options the construction industry has to offer, and it’s fantastic to now be approaching school leavers with the opportunity.
“It’s well known that the construction industry is facing a skills shortage caused by an ageing construction workforce and the looming loss of EU-workers, so it’s vital the industry plans for the future and secures the talent and skills needed.
“Improving vocational training is the best way to attract more people into the industry, and earn and learn opportunities play a crucial role in this. Part of that means working in partnership with further education and higher education providers to develop new pathways that enable recruits to develop the aptitude, attitude and strategic nous to deliver vital new homes and communities.”
Beth Salisbury is 19-years-old and a trainee quantity surveyor in the first year of her housebuilding degree with Redrow’s East Midlands division She said: “I was first attracted to the degree because it’s a great opportunity to broaden my knowledge of the housebuilding industry while creating the building blocks of my career at Redrow Homes. I learn new things every day, each week is a new challenge – and it’s wonderful to know that the work I’m doing is playing a part in building somebody’s future home.
“For now, I’m focused on getting the most out of my degree and learning from those I work alongside at Redrow Homes, but my dream is to one day be managing director of my own housebuilding division.”
