Leeds College of Building gets behind national awareness campaigns

Leeds College of Building is getting behind two campaigns celebrated across the UK and beyond: National Careers Week (March 2-7) and International Women’s Day (March 8). 

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. To commemorate this, Leeds College of Building has been offering free taster sessions to any women over 16 interested in learning DIY skills or thinking about a career in construction. 

National Careers Week is a celebration of careers guidance across the UK, focusing on careers guidance at an important stage in the academic calendar to help support young people leaving education.

Over the last decade, Leeds College of Building has been at the forefront of promoting opportunities for all in the construction industries. The College has focussed on creating career opportunities through apprenticeships which has resulted in a massive growth of the College’s technical and professional training.

Areas as varied as building services engineering, civil engineering, construction management, quantity surveying, and transport planning saw just ten apprentices enrolling in 2011. By 2018, this figure stood at over 700 (6,900% increase), counter to national statistics revealing a 28% drop in apprenticeship starts in England over the same period (521,000 down to 393,000).

Four years ago, the College had a total of 965 apprentices; by the end of the last academic year, that figure stood at nearly 2,250, across all areas of the College’s provision. During the same period, Higher Level Apprenticeships increased from 73 to 465, a 536% upsurge. In addition, the College provides off the job training for numerous other apprentices from other providers. 

Derek Whitehead, principal and chief executive officer at Leeds College of Building said: “We’re delighted that our work is opening up career opportunities in the industry, filling skill shortages, and making life-changing differences to our students’ futures. We’ve worked really hard to push the many and varied roles for men and women too; female apprentices at Leeds College of Building have risen from one student to over 150 today.”