13 January 2015

A Costain Skanska joint venture (JV) has helped improve the prospects of twelve local disadvantaged young people. The joint venture team constructing Crossrail’s Paddington Station recently delivered a two week Prince's Trust Get into Construction programme for local young people who are out of work or education and seeking to get into the industry.

The programme arranged by the Princes Trust recruited 12 local 18 to 24 years olds to take part in an intensive two week learning experience based partly on site in Paddington with the remainder in the classroom preparing for their CSCS tests (the CSCS test which is health and safety based is an industry standard passport of competency and is generally expected by major contractors for anyone undertaking site work).  

Lee Piper, Costain Works Superintendent, said: “The programme is designed to get the young people to a position where they are employable in the construction industry. They have the opportunity to earn their own sets of PPE through good attendance, which although is an elementary behaviour, it’s something that they may not have had to worry about since school.”

They were given classroom training to raise their awareness of site safety and this stood them in good stead for the CSCS tests which they took on the penultimate day.

The group was also given practical tasks to complete in a specially designated safe area, such as tying their own steel reinforcement cages as per a drawing, constructing formwork and pouring concrete to construct a beam. They were supervised by concrete sub-contractors Byrne Brothers and a Costain Skanska JV foreman throughout.

Discussing why the project team decided to run the programme, Lee Piper, said: “There are many young people out there who need a little helping hand and encouragement to get their foot on the ladder.  Once given this confidence our small helping hand could be life changing for them. The industry is really buzzing at the moment with some great projects being developed; they have a fantastic opportunity to get involved in a really exciting period for the sector."

The Prince's Trust is one of the four charities Costain is raising £1 million for in 2015 as a celebration of the Company’s 150th anniversary.  Costain is also a Patron of the Prince's Trust.


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