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CIC Cascade27 July 2007 - Special ConstructionSkills Edition
1. Volunteers sought for CIC-ConstructionSkills Coaching Scheme at second London school Following a successful pilot in 2006-7, the CIC-ConstructionSkills team is seeking Built Environment professionals to join its Coaching Scheme for young people in London and the South East. This new volunteering programme aims to give students the chance to learn about a wide cross-section of professional careers available in our industry directly from a respected local Built Environment professional and therefore address industry skills shortages. Year 9 students (aged 13 - 14) are able to learn about what professional roles involve and what projects professionals are currently working on. These monthly coaching sessions are complemented by a number of external visits and practical activities which are designed to simulate skills needed as a professional. The pilot scheme, which was run at Eastlea Community School in the London Borough of Newham, ran from October 2006 - May 2007. Following the success of this pilot, CIC ConstructionSkills are intending to introduce this scheme into a second school in the area in the autumn and are looking to identify new volunteers to participate. In 2006/7 volunteers for the scheme included professionals from Bovis Lend Lease, Child Graddon Lewis, Conisbee, Costain, CTRL, Devereux Architects, Rok and Willmott Dixon. An induction session will be held for all volunteers in early autumn 2007 prior to professionals being introduced to the students. To register for the scheme or for more information, please contact Janette Welton-Pai, London and South East Regional Coordinator email jwelton-pai@cic.org.uk, Tel 020 7399 7404. 2. New CIC Chairman for the National Regions Graham Anderson has been appointed as the Chairman of CIC National Regions Standing Committee (NRSC). Graham, who is Chairman of the CIC-South East region, succeeds Paul Wainwright of the Eastern region. Graham is the Director of Peak Quality Homes in Farnham, Surrey and is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. In his capacity as Chairman of the NRSC, Graham automatically becomes a member of CIC Executive Board, bringing an important planning executive to the board. The National Regions Standing Committee is made up of Chairs of all eleven CIC Regional Committees which covers Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and eight English regions. The aim of the NRSC is to bring together the Chairs of the various CIC Regional Committees to share best practice and ideas for the future and to provide a single voice for the industry in discussions with the Regional Development Agencies or National Assemblies. The Construction Industry Council would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul Wainwright for his dedication and commitment in chairing the NRSC over the previous three years. We are delighted to welcome Graham Anderson as Chairman and look forward to working closely with him during his term of office. 3. Brown reforms the way in which government addresses industry and skills issues Following his appointment as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has made a number of changes to the way in which government operates that affect CIC members as well as the way CIC reports on its role in ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council. The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have been disbanded. The responsibilities of the former Department of Trade and Industry were divided between a number of new departments, including the newly formed Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for International Development. Stephen Timms MP takes on a Ministerial role at the new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. He is responsible for industry and small business and so takes over from Margaret Hodge MP as the Minister for the construction industry. Two new departments replace the DfES:
Within the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, our new Ministers are:
Finally, a dedicated Minister of State for the Olympics was also created. The Government Olympic Executive will report to a dedicated Minister of State for the Olympics but will remain under the remit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. CIC and ConstructionSkills, as the Sector Skills Council for the industry, are starting to build links with these new Ministers in the same way we did with their predecessors. 4. ICE and CIC-ConstructionSkills announce winner of Telford 250 Schools Design competition Highlands Primary School in Ilford was recently announced as the overall winner of the Schools Design competition run by ICE London and CIC’s ConstructionSkills team. The competition was launched in autumn 2006 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Thomas Telford’s birth. Teams of between 2 and 6 students from schools across Greater London were invited to plan and design a sports stadium within their own school grounds. Following an initial written submission, the final was held at the Science Museum in London on June 18 2007. Two finalists in each category were invited to present their model and answer questions about their final design to the judging panel which was made up of Quentin Leiper, President of the ICE, Angus McAvoy of ICE London, Janette Welton-Pai of CIC’s ConstructionSkills team, a representative from the Science Museum and a Science and Engineering Ambassador. Designs were judged on a variety of criteria including the originality of the design and the engineering aspects plus sustainability and Health and Safety for the older students. The winning school for the Key Stage 1 – 2 category was Highlands Primary in Ilford while the Key Stage 3 – 4 category was won by Ilford Ursuline High School. Both teams received cash prizes. In addition Highlands Primary will receive a guided tour of the new Arsenal Stadium as the winner of the overall competition. CIC’s ConstructionSkills team is currently liaising with ICE East Midlands about introducing a similar competition into that region in autumn 2007. For more information about the competition please contact Janette Welton-Pai at CIC email jwelton-pai@cic.org.uk or Tel 020 7399 7404.
5. National Construction Week 2007 Toolkits now available The 2007 National Construction Week (NCW) Toolkit is now available to any one wishing to organise an event for this initiative. National Construction Week 2007 (NCW) will take place from 8 -12 October 2007. NCW is the national not-for-profit campaign which provides young people with the opportunity to experience the wide range of exciting opportunities available in the modern construction industry. It gives industry the opportunity to engage with young people and their influencers. To support NCW 2007, CIC will once again be touring the North West with Architruck, RIBA’s articulated careers lorry. Architruck gives both young people and the general public an opportunity to find out about the various professional careers in the Built Environment. In addition CIC are also working with ICE and other Professional Institutions to organise a day long conference for careers teachers to learn about the industry which will include a combination of site visits and presentations. To ensure as many young people as possible can take part in NCW this year, employers are being invited to support the initiative by hosting events in their region. Events can range from giving a presentation in a school to organising a taster day or setting a design challenge. The NCW Toolkit provides employers with ideas for activities, a PR guide and general advice for event organisers. To request a copy please contact Janette Welton-Pai at CIC email jwelton-pai@cic.org.uk, Tel 020 7399 7404. For more information about NCW or to register your event please log on to www.ncw.org.uk. 6. A construction skills Olympics legacy: Summer work placements for young would-be professionals The Construction Youth Trust (CYT) and Newham FE College Centre for Innovation and Partnerships (CIPS) are initiating this new project which aims to create a summer holiday intern (extended work placement) programme for young people in full time education post-16 in the five ‘Olympic Boroughs’. The project is funded by the London Development Agency and is designed to encourage young people to consider a career in the professional and technical sector of construction. The project will last until 2009 and will:
CYT is looking for a small number of companies to pilot the process in 2007 with a more substantial number across the built environment sectors for 2008 and 2009. Companies who take part will be asked to provide a work placement for 4 weeks - 6 weeks in the summer, after students have completed GCSE or AS levels. Companies would also be expected to pay a remuneration and travel. This initiative represents a responsible medium to long term investment by the industry. For the companies actually taking part, it also represents a good opportunity to demonstrate a contribution to the Olympic legacy in their Corporate Social Responsibility reports. This will be a genuine legacy: new skills and career opportunities which will last a lifetime and of the sort that make a real contribution to economic prosperity. For more information contact Phil Wildman Director, Construction Youth Trust, Direct dial: 020 7227 4562 or email: Philip.Wildman@thecc.org.uk 7. London Schools respond to Engineering Challenge ConstructionSkills, the Construction Industry Council and the Institution of Civil Engineers challenged 14 year-olds from across London to a day-long event on 22 June at University College London (UCL). The Rapid Response Engineering Challenge provides the students with a natural disaster scenario in which they investigate the disaster, complete engineering designs and then construct shelters and transport water. The aim of the challenge is to raise awareness of the challenges that face engineers when they are called in to deal with natural and man made disasters. The day focused on a recent natural disaster, such as Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, and used it to demonstrate the key role that civil engineers play in such situations. The whole event was supported by University College London who will be running an MSc course in Earthquake Engineering with Disaster Management (EEDM) from September. A winning team was identified based on the speed and efficiency of their solutions. Commenting on the day Steve Miller ICE London Chairman, said: “These Challenges are vital to the profession. Here, students are able to gain an insight into three key branches of civil engineering – water engineering, transportation engineering and structural engineering. It really gets across the message that civil engineering is challenging and varied, and that Engineering is essential for survival.” The original concept (devised by ConstructionSkills) has been running for a number of years, with the event run by construction industry graduates, in schools across the country. 8. Six short listed projects announced for Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions Living Landmarks is an exciting new nationwide programme which has been launched by the Big Lottery Fund. This programme aims to inspire communities to work together to transform, regenerate and revitalise the places where they live. The first part of the programme will see a small number of grants of between £10million - £25million awarded. 23 projects have been short listed for the awards which will be decided by a Committee in autumn 2007. This will be followed by a second single grant of between £25million - £50million. The winning project will be decided by a public vote on an ITV programme at Christmas. Six projects have been short listed to battle for this single grant which is being run in partnership with People’s Millions programme and ITV. The six projects which have been short listed are:
9. Events The events page of the CIC website is frequently updated visit the events page for details. |
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