Construction students get hands-on with Willmott Dixon

Willmott Dixon has been running a five-week enrichment programme for 30 Year 1, Level 3 Construction and Build Environment students.

Two groups of 15 students received weekly one-hour sessions, with the programme created using the Building Blocks resources. These resources have been designed by Willmott Dixon’s social value team to allow virtual and face to face workshop delivery to have a consistent approach.

The programme allows schools and colleges to choose from the Building Block sessions to form their personal programme that will be delivered to the students. These cover areas such as careers in construction, personal branding, interview skills and job roles, as well as routes into the construction industry.

Throughout the five weeks Willmott Dixon provided interaction between the students and nine of our people to enhance the overall experience for the students and provide them with opportunities to ask questions, find out how our people got into the industry and what their job roles entail.

This type of programme enables Willmott Dixon to work with students studying construction-based subjects and bring the roles and responsibilities of construction projects and the industry to life.

Jacqui Chaston, Lecturer in Core Skills at Oaklands College said “When some of my students came on video and then started asking questions and engaging in the interview question and answering session, I was amazed. It gave them the confidence to take part in a safe environment and with an employer.”

Students gave fantastic feedback from the sessions with one student commenting, “I enjoyed talking about all the roles in construction and what they do, I also enjoyed being able to ask questions to a person who is in the industry”. Another student said how it will help them going forward, “Being informed about how to do an interview was useful, as I feel like I would struggle with this without these sessions.”

During April and May, the course will be rolled out to four groups of Business and Engineering students from Oaklands College.

Want to view the latest update and information regarding our exciting new St Albans campus redevelopment? Click here.