Two young people with an interest in construction have been given the opportunity to visit a ‘live’ building site.
Moray Pathways working with partner Moray Council arranged for Andrew and Brad (both 17) to visit the site of the new Linkwood Primary School run by Balfour Beatty.
Moray Council key worker Beth Blampied who accompanied the young people on the visit said it was hugely successful and both Andrew and Brad are now studying a built environment course at Moray College.
She said: “This was a great site visit where the young people got to see first-hand one of the many big contracted school construction projects that are happening in Moray at the moment. The teenagers had a detailed tour of the new school being built, both inside and out and they were given the opportunity to ask questions about how they could go about getting into the construction industry as a career in the future.
“They really enjoyed the experience and found it very worthwhile gaining knowledge on how many different trades are involved to make big scale construction projects a success. They also enjoyed wearing Balfour Beatty PPE and ‘felt the part.’
“The result is that they are now both studying a relevant course at Moray College.”
Amy Cruickshank, Opportunities for All Officer with Moray Council, co-ordinator of Moray Pathways, explained that they are keen to hear from other employers who can provide similar help.
She said: “We are always very keen to work in partnership with all employers and businesses who can provide the young people of Moray with a work taster of what their future careers could be. Due to COVID this has been more difficult to arrange therefore this has been the only industry visit we have done in the past few months and we ensured we stayed within social distancing guidelines.
“Despite the Covid challenges we would like to arrange more work place visits as they are so beneficial and inspiring for young people, especially in the current climate whereby our young people are being affected the most employability wise.”
