Bellway has hosted a group of young people at its Newcastle operations to highlight career pathways in construction, as the industry continues to address skills shortages and workforce diversity challenges.

Nineteen students visited the company’s head office in Woolsington and its Western Grange development in Killingworth as part of a week-long bootcamp delivered by Regeneration Brainery, which aims to increase awareness of careers in the built environment among 14 to 21-year-olds.

The visit included an introduction to key functions within a housebuilding business, including commercial, architecture, construction, sales, and customer care. Students also took part in practical exercises such as a land acquisition challenge and a bricklaying activity on site.

At Western Grange, the group observed homes at various stages of construction, providing insight into the delivery of residential developments and the range of roles involved across the build process.

Addressing Construction Skills Shortages

The initiative reflects wider industry efforts to attract new entrants into construction and expand the talent pipeline, particularly as firms face ongoing labour shortages.

Laura Cooper, Head of Learning & Organisational Development at Bellway, said: “Faced with an increasing skills shortage, it’s absolutely vital for the construction industry to attract people from a diverse range of backgrounds, enabling it to draw on the widest pool of talent available.

“In order to do this, it must not only raise awareness about the variety of opportunities that exist but also to give young people first-hand experience of what these roles entail.

“Regeneration Brainery aims to do exactly that, by connecting young people thinking about a career in construction to experienced professionals who can give them a valuable insight into what working in the industry is really like.

“We were really pleased to partner with this forward-thinking project and it was a pleasure to host the group of young people on the day. We hope they found the experience useful and that they now feel better informed about the range of exciting career opportunities that are open to them.

“Partnering with organisations such as Regeneration Brainery complements the work we already doing to raise awareness of careers in construction through our ongoing outreach with schools and colleges in the areas around our developments.

!And, as a company, we are committed to increasing the ethnic and gender diversity of our workforce while continuing to provide opportunities for young people to enter the industry through our graduate and apprenticeship programmes.”

Supporting the Future Construction Workforce

Programmes such as this are increasingly being used across the sector to provide early exposure to construction careers, combining classroom-based learning with on-site experience. The approach aims to improve understanding of the industry while encouraging a broader and more diverse range of young people to consider careers in construction and the wider built environment.