Industry Week at Southampton City College runs from Monday 9 to Friday 13 March and is based on a series of construction challenges and workshops and seminars that mirror working practice.  The week is designed to be very hands-on, with a spectrum of interactive activities for students to experience and get to grips with. 

Organised by City College the event is being supported by Leadbitter, a leading company which operates in both the UK construction and affordable housing markets.

Eric Bellworthy, Head of School for Construction at City College, said: 'This is our first ever Industry Week in the construction department and we're really looking forward to challenging our students with some competitive games. This will be a multi-skills competition, featuring all the construction crafts working together, which will make the students more employable by gaining all the skills they will need in the workplace. We are delighted that Leadbitter, with whom we have a great working relationship, are supporting the event as it will provide students with valuable advice from people in the industry.'

Dave Cook, Regional Director at Leadbitter explained: 'Industry Week is a good opportunity for students to develop a better understanding of the relationship between learning and employment by helping them add value to the decisions they make about their own learning pathway.'

What’s Happening:

There are three construction challenges that are designed to test the students:

Multi-Skills Challenge is a weeklong event bringing together all trades across construction.  The challenge is open to full time students studying on Construction craft course.  Several teams will be battling it out in a construction and decorating task, they will be presented with a set of simple drawings to build a structure that will involve brickwork (two piers), a stud partition between the piers, plasterboard, wallpapering and painting and inserting a radiator with associated pipe work. 

Golden Brick Challenge takes place on Tuesday 10 and Thursday 12.  The competition requires design, construction and strength and is tailored to students who work with Learning Support.  

Table Top Challenge is a series of ‘stop the clock’ style tasks where students try to complete the task under a stopwatch.  There are four challenges based in Plumbing, Painting, Brickwork and Carpentry. 

As well as the Challenge competitions, City College will also be running a series of live workshops where you can watch students in action demonstrating their skills in carpentry, decorating, bricklaying and plumbing.  Students can also take part and earn themselves a certificates in First Aid, which is paramount in construction industry, and Manual Handling.   The courses take place on Wednesday 11 March. 

In addition over 20 companies within the Construction Industry will be exhibiting at Exhibitors Fair on Wednesday 11 from 9am until 12.30pm.  Leadbitter is actively involved in the event and is keen to promote vocational and professional career opportunities within the construction sector.