CAREERS | CONSTRUCTION YOUTH TRUST The construction industry is not one that worries where you come from if you are doing a good job. Its very tolerant and inclusive high-end systems and the blinds and windows they can control from an app on their phone or tablet, its an eye-opening experience, Wicks says. Building information modelling (BIM) is also pretty exciting for todays tech-savvy youngsters, he adds. You can demonstrate how you can design a system and work out where every cable and pipe is going to run. The other big plus point for construction is that it is more prepared than some industries to offer a second chance to young people who may have messed up, Wicks says: The construction industry is quite forgiving if people have made mistakes in the past. Garrett agrees: The industry is really tolerant of backgrounds: its not one that worries where you come from if you are good at the job. Your progress is very much around the next job: its an inclusive industry and doesnt have the elitism some have. Of course, the trusts work in seeking to expand the industrys talent pool is also in the industrys interests. The supply of trades is drying up, when you ask senior managers where the gaps are, they say everywhere, says Wicks. Many councils are making developers offer apprenticeships as a condition of planning consent. And, while the CYTs work with young people doesnt always pan out successfully which is unsurprising given the challenging backgrounds from which they come the rewards are great, says Sinclair. He recalls one group of Year 12s who were not ready for apprenticeships when they began working with the trust, but by the end most of them were: The best thing is seeing that change and development in young people over time. CJ Chase Farm Hospital, Eneld, on which Shane Sullivan (below) worked SPARKING A LOVE FOR LEARNING Shane Sullivan was the kind of boy who couldnt wait to get out of school. I hated being in the classroom, he says. I enjoy learning, but hate people telling me what to do. As soon as I could, I wanted to get out of there. Now, however, the 22-year-old is studying for a degree apprenticeship in electrical engineering at London South Bank University. He credits a course with the Construction Youth Trust in 2013, when he was a bored Year 10 student at his comprehensive school in Dagenham, with setting him on this path. It showed him opportunities in the construction industry that he would otherwise not have stumbled across. [The CYT] opened your eyes to different things. School pigeon-holed you; [the CYT] didnt, but showed you different things, such as surveying and engineering. After leaving school, Sullivan did a City & Guilds course in construction trades and another in electrician skills. He then secured an apprenticeship in electrical engineering with building services engineer Troup Bywaters + Anders. He started off by studying for a BTech, but is now in the middle of a degree apprenticeship. The blend of work and study suits the way he learns, as well as his bank balance. I can earn when Im doing the job and dont have to pay for the university course, Sullivan says. I can have a joke with the teachers and go at my own pace: I dont have to sit at the same table and chair every week. Sullivan is mainly working on healthcare projects, which range in size from GP surgeries to the recently completed Chase Farm Hospital in Eneld. Would he have imagined fullling a professional role on such a big project when he was a bored pupil? Denitely not not in a million years. Chase Farm Hospital 12 February 2019 www.cibsejournal.com Book 1.indb 12 12/02/2019 11:38