International construction students from Hong Kong who are studying at Warwickshire College Group as part of a placement, were given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with five star housebuilder Barratt Homes thanks to a special event at its Heathcote development Warwick Gates. The international students were shown around a house under construction.
A total of 13 students, who study various trades within construction at the Vocational Training Centre in Hong Kong, visited the Harbury Lane development, where they met with staff at Barratt Homes to learn more about the housebuilding industry.
Students were able to gain practical, supervised experience of construction skills such as plumbing in a residential property. The aim of the visit, which was led by the developer, was to demonstrate to students the different skills involved in building a new home and to hopefully inspire them into considering a career in house building, and the technical roles within construction after leaving college.
Work Placement Coordinator at Warwickshire College Leanne Booth said: “Barratt Homes have been most generous with their time, staff at the site have shown our 13 students from Hong Kong new build designs and time saving technologies.
“The students were enthusiastic and motivated by what they experienced during the visit. It is important for us to develop relationships internationally within the industry to ensure the sector is sharing new technologies and aspects of the design and build process”.
The students were taught how to stay safe on site by the site manager, before meeting Barratt Homes’ Contracts Manager Simon Hulme, along with other members of the site team. They were then split into two different groups, where they gained more of an understanding of how plumbing and electrical works are installed during a tour of a pre-plastered home, and viewed new time saving house Building materials. They also learnt about how the drainage works on the development and learnt about the drainage lagoon system.
Students were given a tour of one of the furnished view homes at the development, where they were able to see the high standard of homes that Barratt builds. The students were given a feel for the development and what it is like to work onsite, whilst also having the chance to interview a number of experts in housebuilding. There was a question and answer session at the end with the Site Manager and Contracts Manager, where the students found out more about the industry in the UK.
Chris Southgate, Managing Director at Barratt Homes North Midlands, said; “We’re always on the look-out for the homebuilders of the future, and we wanted to give these international students a glimpse of what it’s like to work on a new homes development in the UK like Warwick Gates.
“As a leading national housebuilder it is important for us to not only demonstrate the high standard of properties at our developments across the country, but to also engage people in the industry and we were delighted to be given this opportunity.
“By hosting ‘have a go’ days like these, we hope to encourage keen individuals to consider a career in the housebuilding industry and we hope that the students at Warwickshire College had a good day with our team onsite and that they all took away some useful information.”
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