Career Pathways Into Construction

Our Planet is our action plan for positive change, and our blueprint for a greener future. Driving carbon emissions down, helping our customers achieve their sustainability goals today, and developing the skills we all need for tomorrow. A key focus of this is skills, education and employment. We use our wide network of depots and thousands of specialists and experts across the UK to help reach those who may need additional support with their education and careers. We also run programmes across communities and targeted at young people to help demystify the construction industry and help build a strong pipeline of talent.

Project and Location
Three of Sunbelt Rentals regional operational centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester
Sector
Social Impact
Duration
One week

Challenge

It can be challenging for young people to gain a true understanding of what the industry can offer unless they get to experience it for themselves. The sector has resourcing challenges and the more exposure it has to attract young people into the industry the more resilient and sustainable it will be.

Solution

Our flagship Beacon Schools programme is aimed at helping young people discover the construction industry and explore the many career paths available to them. During the academic year of 2022/2023, we partnered with six key strategic schools close to some of our larger depots in Birmingham to offer ongoing support.

Our national presence and work across many sectors within the UK economy means we are well placed to deliver a holistic insight into construction. We were well placed to culminate our Beacon Schools activity for 2022/2023 with an action packed work experience programme aimed at showcasing the diversity and career pathways into the construction industry.

In July 2023, the immersive one week programme hosted at three separate locations across the UK was carefully designed to cover everything from project management, safety, and innovation, to exploring greener solutions through a mix of practical and classroom learning. With the help of our many volunteers across three of our regional operational centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester, we welcomed 25 young people aged 16 to 18 from six schools.

The programme was coordinated so that each school followed a similar timetable and then joined together for a live digital masterclass. Sunbelt experts volunteered their time to create the seven core masterclasses including

  • Safety workshop giving insight into our focus on safety, with hands-on exercises
  • Project management workshop showing what it’s like to plan and manage a project
  • Survey workshop to look at how every-day and specialist technology is changing the face of data capture in our industry
  • Site tour / demonstrations to meet experts at the depots and see first hand the operations within a live site environment
  • 360 Solutions masterclass and workshop were students learnt about the services provided by 360 Solutions and took part in an interactive challenge
  • Employability workshops helping students prepare for their future career paths with Interview skills, personal statements and training sessions

We also worked with customers and partners who kindly hosted external site visits to give students the chance to gain an even deeper insight into our industry, and help them to understand the different type of companies involved in delivery.

Students learnt about Cadent’s Net Zero strategy and their incorporation of hydrogen into their gas network, how to put business briefs together for construction projects with Wates, received tips on how to enhance their employability skills with West Midlands Combined Authority and experienced Midland Metro Alliance’s sophisticated Regional Transport Communications Centre as well as a site tour of the facility.

The students embraced every opportunity to learn and actively participated in the variety of tasks and projects.

Results

As a direct result of the Beacon Schools Work Experience programme we have successfully employed one of the students into a role at our Chadderton depot. This is a first full time employment role for the student and shows the power of the Beacon Schools programme. It truly is transforming lives and helping the construction industry attract young talent.

Swati Patel, Social Impact Programme Manager said, “The success of the programme is incredible. It was fantastic to see all the students, who took part in the workshops, grow in confidence.  As the week progressed, they showed initiative and showcased their skills without hesitation – a truly inspiring and rewarding experience to be a part of.

A huge thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it such a success and to our external partners who helped bring it to life for the students and showcased such a diverse range of construction activities, including

  • City of Wolverhampton College Plant Training Academy 
  • Midland Metro Alliance 
  • West Midlands Combined Authority
  • SCS Railways Joint Venture
  • Wates
  • Southwark Construction Skills Centre
  • Cadent

We look forward to continuing our work with our Beacon Schools this academic year.