Students at Cockburn School in Beeston, South Leeds, have received advice on construction careers from city homes developer Lovell and Leeds Federated Housing Association.
The session was organised by Lovell and Leeds Federated who are currently working together on a new development nearby at Newhall Gate and Walk, Belle Isle, which is creating 33 urgently-needed affordable homes. It follows on from a visit by the students to the Belle Isle development site last summer.
Dan Osborne of Lovell said: “Engaging with young people to help them discover the opportunities opened up by a career in construction is a key element of our work in local communities.
“It helps us encourage a new generation into our industry as well as being an important way of providing opportunities for residents in the places where we work. One of the things we’re offering the Leeds students is the chance to take part in supervised work placements on a local development. Opportunities like this give teenagers a rare chance to gain valuable work experience onsite as well as explore the challenges and excitement of working on a real-life construction project. They will also be able to see that construction jobs aren’t just about manual trades, there’s a huge variety of roles for professionals ranging from architects, planners and designers and project managers to quantity surveyors, estimators, legal teams and sales and marketing professionals.”
Robert Knowles, Development Officer at Leeds Federated, added: “It was great to meet the students and see them showing a real interest in a construction career. There is a great need for new affordable homes across the country at the moment and Leeds Federated is responding to that need by building over 750 new homes over the next five years.
“With such a large building programme taking place nationally, we are very pleased that Lovell offers apprenticeships, as they are an important way to train new recruits to build more homes. A career in construction can really take you places with fantastic opportunities in training and employment.”
Lovell began construction work in 2016 on 33 new houses – 20 two-bedroom and 13 three-bedroom homes – at Newhall Gate and Newhall Walk, which will all be for affordable rent through the housing association. The first residents moved in at the development last month.
Pictured, from left to right, are: Leeds Federated Development Officer Robert Knowles; students Newton Conde and Jack Stead; and Lovell’s Dan Osborne.
