Ever considered a career in built environment? If you said no, you’re not alone. Recent data suggests that only half of students think the built environment affects their lives, and only 30% of female students are interested in the sector.
But built environment, which encompasses both the construction and real estate sectors, has plenty of interesting career paths to offer. And with an expected addition 22,800 workers needed to meet construction demand in Greater London by 2027, now is a great time to consider a career in the industry.
Empowering tomorrow’s leaders
Places for London – Transport for London’s commercial property company – and its partners will be starting on 20,000 homes over the next ten years, making Places for London one of the largest developers in the UK capital. To tackle the current knowledge gap and prepare for the future, Places for London has announced that it is teaming up with Construction Youth Trust on its educational engagement programme.
The programme will help bring together schools, young people and employers (including role models from across the built environment industry), so that students, as well as teachers and parents, can learn more about the industry and the impact it has.
Over the course of the next three years, Places for London and Construction Youth Trust aims to reach 6,750 young Londoners through a range of inspirational workshops and intensive programmes to support young people progress into built environment careers.
Thomas Glover, construction skills manager at Places for London, said: “We can show young people how they have a real chance to shape London and, more widely, the world around them.”
Hear from real Places for London apprentices
Through the partnership, Places for London and its partners will be directly supporting 250 young people to progress into an education, training or employment outcome related to the built environment. This could be an 18-year-old starting a degree level apprenticeship, or a 16-year-old going onto study a construction T-Level.
Jessica Fabian, a current commercial real estate apprentice at Places for London, said: “I love working in the built environment sector and as part of my degree apprenticeship, I’ve been involved in a variety of projects – including working with the business tenants across our arches estate.
“There are so many different opportunities in the industry that I hadn’t realised existed before I did a work placement at a property firm while at school. I thought working in property meant that you had to be an estate agent – I couldn’t have been more wrong!”
Grace O’Connor, a commercial real estate apprentice at Places for London, added: “Through the work Places for London has been doing with schools, I got to learn all about property development and visit the construction site near to my school where they have been building new homes with Barratt London. This inspired me to apply for my apprenticeship at TfL, where I am actually getting the chance to work within the property industry, while also studying for a degree.”
Places for London has been delivering its education engagement programme by working together with some of the UK’s leading property developers, such as Barratt London, Earls Court Development Company, Grainger plc and Helical plc.
