North West Region - News

ConstructionSkills announces 50% increase in the number of Inspire scholars

ConstructionSkills has announced that it will increase the number of Inspire Scholarship places for 2007 by 50%, bringing this year’s total to 300. During the scheme’s first awards ceremony, in which a £4,000 prize was awarded to the top scholar, ConstructionSkills unveiled the plans to boost the scheme after industry gave the thumbs up following two extremely successful years.

The awards ceremony showcased some of the new talent to prospective employers and congratulated scholars currently matched on the scheme, Sir Michael Latham, Chairman of ConstructionSkills, presented the £4000 cheque to Jonathan Fletcher, employed by Allerdale Borough Council, for his winning entry in an essay writing competition.

Sir Michael stated: “There is fierce competition for talented young people, so construction has to make itself an attractive proposition. In this age of tuition fees, top-up fees, and student loans, which are increasing the financial burden of going to university, money worries are creating a barrier between some of our brightest students and higher education. This in turn may put some of those students off even applying to university in the first place. Inspire Scholarships are one of very few ways in which undergraduates can obtain extra funding as an incentive to choose construction and  to help break down this barrier. And crucially, Inspire offers funding which does not need to be paid back. We want construction to be an industry in which students see employers invest in them from day one.”

The Inspire Scholarship scheme provides funding of up to £9,000 to support students through university.  In addition, sponsoring employers offer the student a 10-week summer placement at the end of their first year and the possibility of placement opportunities during a sandwich year, as well as potential employment upon graduation. The employers benefit by gaining access to the best available young talent without the hassle of undertaking an extensive graduate recruitment drive. In addition, the latest forecasts from the Construction Skills Network suggest that 32% of the new recruits required to join the industry between 2007-2011 will be professional roles such as construction managers, architects and technical staff. So it’s even more important than ever that there is an adequate supply of high quality graduates into the construction industry.

Following its successful launch in 2005, the Inspire Scholarships scheme has more than doubled in size, with over 150 employers from across the industry now involved, and over 1,000 applications currently in the pipeline from young people preparing to study construction-related degree courses.  Leading employers already supporting the scheme include Lovell Partnership, Balfour Beatty plc, GJ Seddon and the Happold Trust.

Karen Wheeler, Project Manager for Inspire added: “Despite our successes, we still need more employers to meet the demand from the young people applying for the scheme - I can’t emphasise this point enough; without the employers willing to demonstrate a commitment to our scholars, then we don’t have a scheme. We have huge interest from young people, but we now need to match that enthusiasm amongst the employers. We hope that those of you already committed to the scheme will continue to support it so that we are able – again, with your help - to address the recruitment issues faced by the industry and increase the quality and capabilities of those graduates entering it.”

For more information on Inspire Scholarships visit www.bconstructive.co.uk/scholarship 

Construction Challenge 2006

The region’s annual Construction Challenge event was held on 30 November 2006 at Urbis in Manchester in conjunction with the CIC’s ConstructionSkills team. Read more ....

CIC-North West Annual Dinner 2006, in conjunction with ConstructionSkills

CIC-North West, in conjunction with ConstructionSkills, held its Annual Dinner 2006 on 16th June 2006 , at Manchester Town Hall. The event was attended by over 140 built environment professionals from across the region. Gordon Masterton, current ICE President, was also in attendance. The event began with a drinks reception in The Bees, before dinner was served in the magnificent surroundings of The Great Hall. The evening’s entertainment was in the form of after dinner speaker, the comedian Barry Roberts, and a live jazz set, from the Cheshire trio, The Gershwin gang.

If you would like to attend next year’s Annual Dinner, or get involved with this year’s Construction Challenge, which is due to take place in October 2006, please contact the North West Regional Coordinator, Jane Brade.

Construction Challenge 2005 – Integrating the Team

The CIC North West region once again held its highly successful Construction Challenge event for the fourth year running on 29th November 2005 . The North West ’s top consultants, contractors and universities put forward teams of up to 5 people for this popular annual event which was once again held at Bar 38 in Manchester . In line with the event’s aim to promote success through teamwork, teams had a mixture of members from different aspects of the industry.

With the task brief revealed for the first time on arrival at the event and only an hour permitted to devise and construct their structure, teams had to work quickly and efficiently to ensure their entry was ready for testing in time. This year teams were set the challenge of designing and constructing a structure which could support an ever-increasing load. In true ‘Blue Peter’ style only limited materials, as provided by the organisers, were permitted to be used. These included a full beer can, paper and plastic cups.

The task set the wheels in motion for an evening of fun and intense competition during which all teams approached the task in their own individual and innovative way. However eventually MWH were announced as the winning team after achieving the highest loading at a distance of 450mm before failure, topple or collapse of the structure. Congratulations go to the MWH team ‘Clutching at Straws’ which was made up of David Burrows, Catherine William-Yeager, John McNeill, Holly Taylor and Dan Causley.