Members of the town council, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), bricklaying students, local residents and a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Operations Manager attended the one day event. There was also representation from the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.
Attendees had the exclusive opportunity to see the Southend Road development, being delivered by Lovell with the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, as work is carried out on the 32 one, two and three bedroom apartments.
Visitors were given a full site tour, an overview of Lovell and all attendees received a goody bag, plus a mock CSCS card which was provided by Open Doors.
Garry Mortimer, Head of Operations at CSCS, said: “It was a real pleasure to be able to visit the Southend Road project in Hunstanton and once again support Open Doors. Initiatives like Open Doors week are crucial in ensuring construction is seen as an attractive, modern and flexible option for young people entering the world of work. With the industry also needing to tackle the skills shortage that currently exists, Open Doors remains an invaluable opportunity for organisations and companies to give an insight into their work and inspire people to choose a career in the sector. Both myself and CSCS look forward to supporting Open Doors again in the near future and showcasing the different types of jobs available to suit a diverse range of people and skillsets.”
Richie Everitt, Standards Developer at CITB, said: “As standards developer, it was great to be able to get a better understanding of technical knowledge that’s used on constructions sites and it was really well organised. We were able to talk to the site manager and various site operatives to get an insight on their roles. Having found this experience so useful it would be good if there were a different variety of sites that could be visited in future.”
Simon Medler, regional managing director at Lovell, said: “The Open Doors event was a brilliant opportunity for people interested in the industry to see what happens on a working site, and to find out more about the range of careers there is in construction. We had 19 people attend and had fantastic feedback, with lots of enthusiastic questions and our passionate team helping inspire the next generation in the industry. Construction needs to have 45,000 new recruits a year to maintain output, so events like this are really essential to get people interested in construction.”
Open Doors takes visitors behind the site hoardings to showcase the fantastic range of careers available in construction. This year’s event welcomed more than 4,500 visitors to over 230 sites across Great Britain.
