5 March 2014

Investing in young people and getting them interested in the built environment is essential if the UK intends to bridge the skills gap in the construction/engineering industry.

With this in mind, Costain responded to a Twitter appeal by Alison Watson, founder of 'Class Of Your Own' (COYO), and has donated IT equipment to Graveney School in Tooting, south London, in support of COYO's Design Engineer Construct! (DEC) learning programme.

DEC is a Government backed education initiative that aims to encourage a new generation of young learners to take on the complex challenges of the built environment and eventually seek a career in the construction industry.

The donation is in line with Costain Cares and the Company’s commitment to promoting the value of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and encouraging more young people to consider a career in the construction and engineering industry.

Bill Price, Costain’s Systems and Technology Director and a STEM Ambassador, handed over the computer equipment, which included two servers and 12 laptops.

“Historically, the construction professions haven’t really had any dedicated pathways that encourage young people to explore them as careers. As part of the DEC programme, children study an industry backed programme which can provide a valuable route to a professional career and we’re fully in support of that,” said Bill.

Design, Engineer, Construct! is a qualification that offers teachers and learners the opportunity to develop a range of skills and knowledge fundamental to the professional aspects of the Construction and Built Environment industry. These include literacy, numeracy and personal skills and IT. Some of the subjects on the programme include Sustainability, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Site Engineering, Building Services Engineering, Planning, Procurement and Facilities Management.

Design Engineer Construct! qualifications are accredited at Levels 1, 2 and 3 and attract performance table points approved by the Department for Education.

Commenting on the donation, Graham Stapleton, the Principal at Graveney School, said: “We thank Costain for enabling our pupils to access industrial standard CGI technology which gives them a better understanding of the built environment. Engineering and architecture are fast growing enrichment subjects which will hopefully lead to more of our pupils joining those professions.”

COYO’s Alison Watson, added: "It's fantastic that Costain value progress in education as much we do. This donation has enabled young people to access a whole new world of opportunity that they never knew existed, offering the means to use industry standard software and smoothing the path into employment and progression to higher learning."

For more information about Design Engineer Construct!, click here.

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