The groups attended site visits at 77 Coleman Street, Boxwood Development and the port of Felixstowe.

They also visited the Luton DART, a VolkerFitzpatrick-Kier joint venture and M5 Oldbury Viaduct, a Highways England funded scheme, with bmv, a BAM Nuttall, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure and VolkerFitzpatrick joint venture.

The visits included a presentation, a live look at each project and discussions around career opportunities in the construction industry. Each site also provided the visitors with a goodybag full of branded items along with a hand-out with helpful links to industry career websites and the VolkerWessels UK job portal, to take away.

After putting on their PPE (personal protective equipment), each group was guided out on site to view the latest phase of their chosen development. The visitors were able to view live works and ask questions to learn about the different roles on each project and different avenues into the industry.

One student said: “It’s so cool, I’ve never been to an actual building site before”, adding “the fact that it is a real-life site means we get to see people working, which is really interesting.”

Another mentioned that he would love to work on the railway when he finishes his GCSEs, and another commented that he would like to be a bid manager, after being inspired by a presentation from one of VolkerFitzpatrick’s assistant bid managers.

Open Doors is delivered by Build UK in partnership with CITB, and provides young people with behind the scenes access to some of the most prestigious construction projects across the UK.

To find out more about Open Doors, visit: www.opendoors.construction