City College 'building futures' with local construction firm

City College Brighton and Hove's 'Building Futures' project, run in collaboration with Brighton & Hove City Council to improve employment prospects for Brighton & Hove jobseekers, has gained welcome support from local developers Denne Construction. Students on European Interreg-funded Building Futures courses are required to spend ten weeks in college learning basic construction skills and two weeks with a local employer on a voluntary work placement. They leave the course with a Level 1 qualification, a CSCS health and safety card, work experience in the sector, and a reference from an employer. Denne recently pledged its commitment to training people in the building industry and offered work experience opportunities to three 'Building Futures' students, through their contractors O'Halloran & O'Brien.

''There’s a general reluctance in the building sector for employers to take on young and inexperienced people and we wanted to buck that trend by supporting Building Futures", said Graham Rye, Denne's Project Manager at the Hyde Housing Cover's Yard site. “We give the students a full days training prior to going on site, going through on-site health & safety, method statements and risk assessments. The students we took on quickly became part of the team and gained respect from the guys for showing their commitment by working unpaid for two whole weeks. We’re pleased to be able to offer credible work experience. The structures and systems that they’re learning here are reproduced across the country.''

''It’s been great to get work experience on a large construction site”, said Building Futures student James Boyd. "Everyone’s been very supportive and I've gained practical experience in groundwork, site engineering and construction of concrete frames. The experience has definitely given me the confidence to apply for work on other large sites.'' Fellow Building Futures student Adebayo Oyentunde added: "The work's physically demanding and took some getting used to but I now look forward to coming in every day. I've enjoyed watching and shadowing the team and am beginning to get hands-on experience such as working on reinforced concrete frames."

Building Futures students have gone on to find work in the industry with local builders and agencies, or have been inspired to take on further training at college. As part of the Building Futures project, the City Council enters the students' details onto a Local Employment Scheme database that is used by developers and their contractors to recruit local tradesmen and labourers.

For more information on Building Futures courses, contact Nicola Sankey on 01273 667788 x 586 or email NS@ccb.ac.uk

For City College media enquiries, please call Brian Bell, Marketing Communications Officer, on 01273 667788 Ext. 488 or email bb1@ccb.ac.uk website www.ccb.ac.uk

About City College Brighton and Hove: Situated in the heart of Brighton and graded ‘Outstanding’ in key areas by Ofsted in its June 2011 report, City College Brighton and Hove is an international centre of vocational excellence and one of the top performing Further Education Colleges in the country. Every year, 2,000 full-time, 7,000 part time, 400 Higher Education and 400 14-16 year old students as well as many international and European students choose City College as their place of further and higher education training. In addition, the College provides training to over 2,000 businesses via its ‘City Business Skills’ department which focuses on employer training needs. Offering over 700 courses from basic level right through to business and postgraduate training, City College is working with its partners to develop the workforce of the future.