Neil Ramsey, secretary director at Northern Counties Builders Federation (NCBF), highlights the importance of connecting schools to the construction industry via initiatives such as the North East Schools Wonder Challenge.
We have a skills crisis in the country, so attracting new people and upskilling, is critical.
It is for this reason that the NCBF, supported by Constructing Excellence in the North East (CENE), relaunched the North East Schools Wonder Challenge.
The sector bodies, along with the regional branch of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) and Newcastle City Council, presented teachers with a ready-made project for students, assisting them in STEM subjects, geography, design and English.
The Wonder Challenge is a call-to-action to schools, within the NELEP areas of Tyne & Wear, Northumberland and Durham, that sees year 9 and 10-year-old students form mini construction companies.
The challenge is to design a sustainable transport system.
There are three main tasks. The first, set up a company, appoint a team and identify a site to develop. The second, the generation of a company proposal. The third, a presentation to the judges at the grand final on 27 June 2024.
The Wonder Challenge provides a brilliant opportunity for pupils to research the career opportunities available in construction. It really opened up the minds of students, as they learned to work in the mindset of a business and considered wider issues, such as environmental needs.
The teams had researched the merits of brownfield and greenfield sites from a perspective of environmental impact and how the energy used to power their transportation system would consider environmental issues.
The project explored modern methods of construction, such as ensuring the carbon footprint of the project was reduced and to maximise environmental gains from reduced waste and recyclable materials.
All teams identified a specific need that will be served by the transport system they design. It was interesting to see that solutions are generally linked to needs identified within their own circumstances. For example, schools in rural areas considered more localised and specific transportation requirements, whereas in more urban areas, ideas were less specific and based around broader public transport requirements.
Pupils also explored how the project is to be delivered in terms of design and what skills are required, as a team, to complete the whole project. I was impressed to see that solutions from construction projects around the world had been researched and adapted to encompass our region and its geographic and demographic constraints.
The Wonder Challenge takes the industry into the classroom in an exciting practical manner. With competition as a motive, I anticipate that the contestants will also have gained an insight into their future beyond schooling, which is something currently under emphasised within our schools.
It was evident the teams had researched the various job roles in construction and identified the skills needed to deliver their project, opening their eyes up to the existing and varied opportunities that a career in the built environment can offer. They were also able to see that salaries are competitive, with the option to diversify into a different area as your journey progresses.
The challenge also provided opportunities for construction site visits and to meet young professionals from the built environment sector.
By gaining real life work experience with organisations such as Robertson Group, Wates and Sir Robert McAlpine, pupils were able to see realistic and attractive career routes, as well as gaining an insight into team work.
The construction sector has the potential to fully embrace the modern era and attract a more diverse workforce. I believe we will go from strength-to-strength and we will increasingly become an exciting rewarding industry that people will want to join.