CITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON COLLEGE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION CAREERS

Tutors at City of Wolverhampton College will be teaching unemployed people the skills needed to work in the construction industry, through a partnership with the city council and a major building developer.    

The college has joined forces with building contractors Willmott Dixon and City of Wolverhampton Council’s Wolves at Work employment programme to develop a £100,000 construction training hub in Wednesfield. 

The scheme – based at The Marches, a 266-home development in Wednesfield – will offer practical training in brickwork and groundworks including slabbing, paving, concreting and drainage, based on the needs of the site.  

The training lasts four weeks and will also cover health and safety, manual handling and asbestos awareness to enable participants to gain their CSCS card – which is required to work on a building site – as well as preparing them for a guaranteed interview with Willmott Dixon at the end of the course  

Michael Dixon, head of faculty for construction at the college, said: “We are delighted to be part of this partnership which will offer high quality, industry-focused on-the-job training to local people. 

“The training will not only enable them to work on The Marches development but also use the skills they learn to get jobs elsewhere in the construction industry in the future.” 

Funding for the scheme was secured by the Wolves at Work programme and comes from the West Midlands Combined Authority after it secured £2.3 million from the government’s Construction Industry Skills Training Board.