National property and construction consultancy Wakemans is using Construction Showcase - the rebranded National Construction Week run by Construction Skills - to encourage young people to consider a career in the construction industry while also working with 180 Birmingham teenagers on a design project with an Olympics theme.

The 47 medals won by Team GB in Beijing this summer are helping to fuel the enthusiasm of the Year 9 students from Hall Green School, who are required to design and manufacture a clock as part of their Product Design course.  The students are supplied with an analogue mechanism and between September and February 2009 they will prepare designs and build a clock face and stand.

Wakemans enjoys a long association with the School, having taken a key role in redevelopment works to improve the facilities, especially for students with disabilities, and regularly organises initiatives which put construction under the spotlight.  In previous National Construction Weeks, the consultancy has promoted the benefits of working in the industry so that the thirteen and fourteen year olds are armed with the information they need to give serious consideration to a career in some area of construction.

“The Olympics seem to have captured everyone’s imagination, even more so because of Team GB’s medal haul and the growing excitement surrounding the London 2012 Games, so we thought that linking the Product Design assignment to this major sporting spectacle would really spark the students’ interest,” says Wakemans senior project manager Dave Jones.

“Since they need to consider the environment in which their clocks would function, research into athlete accommodation and the interior design of the various facilities required, for example, is entirely relevant to their work.” 

Mr Jones launched the initiative with a short presentation at Hall Green School on Friday, September 19, followed by a question and answer forum and supplied an information pack highlighting both summer and winter sports; host cities; some highs and lows of the Modern Games; stadium construction statistics for the London Olympics and an overview of the kind of facilities required, including venues, training facilities, athlete accommodation, transport infrastructure, communal meeting areas and medical facilities.

He also outlined the variety of construction industry jobs on offer and provided advice on the qualifications required and the different entry routes, along with information on Wakemans’ own training scheme, which incorporates sponsorship for school-leavers.

Ben Atkinson, head of design and technology, who will develop the Product Design course assignments, said: “Wakemans has organised some really interesting activities for us over the past few years, including several visits to construction sites and hands on sessions at an independent living centre, all of which gives the students food for thought when making decisions about the kind of work they want to do and the qualifications they will need.

“For logistical reasons we can usually only take up to 20 students on these visits, but this year, because Wakemans was keen to tailor its support to improve the contribution it makes to our students’ learning and the initiative is school-based, we are delighted to involve all 200 of our Year 9 students.”

Dave Jones has accepted an invitation to return to Hall Green School next February, when he will judge the completed clock projects.