VolkerBrooks supports civil engineering partnership with careers day in Northumberland

The career day, held at Trainbase Ltd in Nedderton, was attended by approximately eighty year 8 students from Meadowdale School in Bedlington, Northumberland. VolkerBrooks supplied the PPE for the children and hosted the ‘GoConstruct’ challenge which tested the childrens’ building and communication skills. The team challenged the students to try and build the strongest bridge they possibly could, using only paper and straws, before being judged and awarded a box of sweets to the winning strongest bridge.

CETG was set up in 2000 and has very close working links with CECA NE who, together actively promote training at all levels for all civil engineering activities. The partnership between CETG, CECA NE and NED encourages member companies, such as VolkerBrooks, to get actively involved in promoting work experience, site visits, school based programmes and young entrants into the industry.

The career day was designed to actively engage the children with the construction industry through the building challenge, teaching them about construction and hopefully encourage and inspire the children to consider a career in the field. Following the event, VolkerBrooks received very positive feedback from the students, with nearly fifty per cent of the children saying that they would now consider a career in construction. 

Steve Marshall, director of VolkerBrooks, said: “A great effort from the team and a huge thank you to the children from Meadowdale School who participated. We were delighted to take part in such a fantastic event that engages with and inspires the next generation of future engineers, and especially pleased with the amount of children that said they would be interested in a construction career following the event.”