Inspire the next generation – enthusiastic professionals wanted to go into UK secondary schools

The recruitment and retention of sufficient professionals within the construction industry is a problem we are all familiar with. But did you know that the industry will have to recruit an estimated 11,000 professionals over the next four years to meet its needs?

The Construction Industry Council Equal Opportunities Panel has commissioned a video that goes some way to addressing this problem. Launched in November 2002, ‘Building Visions – creative careers in the construction professions’, is a construction industry sponsored video targeted at young people, aged 14-18, who are thinking about their career choices.

Construction has the further problem that women and those from minority groups are not choosing to join our industry in sufficient numbers. We can not afford to let this large pool of talent drain away into other professions. The video has therefore been designed to particularly appeal to students from diverse backgrounds.

We now need enthusiastic volunteers to take the video into schools – some 5000 free copies are available: one for every secondary school in the UK. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has produced teachers’ notes to help presenters answer questions. At 27 minutes in length the video is short enough to fit into a lesson.

Sequences of stunning architecture across the UK make an exciting visual impact. The video demonstrates construction is not all about ‘mud and boots’. As well as giving an overview of the construction industry, the video looks at seven professions in detail: architecture, quantity surveying, planning, civil, structural and building services engineering and project management. Bright young professionals from diverse backgrounds share their experiences and are filmed at work on a variety of interesting projects from bridges to theme parks.

In order to reinforce the message of the video and to project the passion we share for the industry to our target audience, we are seeking construction professionals to take the video nationwide within the coming year. To enable us do this we want to hear from professionals willing to present the video in schools in their local area. Please help by donating a small amount of time and a huge amount of enthusiasm and knowledge!