Kier staff swap the office for hands-on construction at Cambridge Regional College

Office staff at construction giant Kier swapped their desks for a hands-on bricklaying session when they visited Cambridge Regional College for a novel team-building exercise.

Nine staff from the company’s Learning & Development department donned safety helmets and goggles for the activity in CRC’s purpose-built brickwork centre, led by the college’s experts, Stuart Pearson and Steve Collins.

They were given a briefing on the basics of bricklaying and then provided with the tools to have a go themselves, working in pairs to build their own versions of a mini wall.

Ian Dickerson, Head of Funding for Kier Group, said: “The L&D team get out of the office and do something site-based every six months, but this time we decided instead to do something which gives us a practical understanding of what it is like to be on site.

“We have a relationship with CRC which gave us the idea. We are very enthusiastic about apprenticeships and CRC is one of our partner colleges – it is a great venue.”

John Malone, Director of Construction and Motor Vehicle Technology at CRC, said the college had been delighted to arrange the unusual team-building exercise for Kier.

“We have an excellent partnership with Kier and it was great to give some of the L&D staff a chance to have a go at being a bricklayer for the afternoon,” he said.