Students and staff from Lakes College in Workington, Cumbria, visited Hanson UK’s Carlisle concrete plant to learn about concrete manufacture and career opportunities in the heavy building materials sector.
The construction and built environment students toured the site, seeing each stage of the production process, learning about the importance of health and safety and hearing about concrete applications.
Hanson also introduced the students, aged 17-24, to its apprenticeship and graduate programmes. Its Leadership, Education and Development (LEAD) higher apprenticeship programme, allows post ‘A’ level students to combine hands-on work experience with a distance learning foundation degree in Minerals Extractive Technology. The two-year graduate scheme is designed to develop future leaders by offering experience in a range of disciplines from production to sales.
Hanson project manager Jobert Fermilan said: “As a regional Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) ambassador, it was great to meet the construction specialists of the future and to pass on what a rewarding sector it can be to work in. There are lots of routes into the industry, which is expected to need 200,000 new recruits by 2020.”
Rachel Melton, lead work placement coordinator at Lakes College, said: “Our students really got a lot out of the visit, especially seeing the real-life application of skills they are developing at college. We look forward to working with Hanson in the future.”
Hanson’s Carlisle concrete plant, located on Willowholme Industrial Estate, produces over 9,000 cubic metres of concrete a year. It supported repairs to major infrastructure in the region following Storm Desmond, including Eamont Bridge, the A591 and the Settle to Carlisle railway landslip at Eden Brows, Armathwaite – with round the clock working introduced during the clean-up period.
