9 October 2013

Local students have gained a taste of the construction industry at the new Paddington Crossrail station site, with contractors Costain Skanska JV providing two paid internships.

The two sixth form college students from Paddington Academy are part of a science academy scheme run by Careers Academy UK, aiming to attract students into science related careers.

The contractors were invited to take part with the science academy which included site visits, mentoring and paid six week internships over the course of the academic year.  The science academy was supported by a number of large businesses, including Astra Zeneca, Marks and Spencer, Imperial College London, John Laing and many others.

Following a site visit to the Paddington construction site in December 2012 some of the students were inspired to apply for the two internships, with the commercial and engineering teams providing support functions.

The internships lasted for six weeks with one extended to eight weeks at the request of the student.

Andy Mooney, Costain Skanska JV Construction Manager said: “The construction industry has a responsibility to inspire and help train the next generation of engineers. It has been a real pleasure to see these local youngsters getting involved with our project and by giving them real responsibilities within our team they have developed their skills.  The project team has really got behind the work experience and intern programme this summer and my thanks goes out to them."

The feedback from the students was extremely positive with one of the students, Osama, saying: “Before this internship if someone would have asked me if I wanted to go into construction I would have been unsure, but after this wonderful experience I can easily answer this question by saying ‘definitely’.  So thank you all for guiding me in the right direction.” 

Following the completion of the academic year, all of the students that took part presented to the supporting organisations about their experiences. Andy, who attended, said: “I was particularly impressed with the confidence of these young people, they really did put on a good show and in front of an audience of high level professions.”

Ends