Northumberland Estates recently arranged for 45 students from the Duchess High School in Alnwick to visit the construction site opposite the school. This visit is to form part of a school project for the students who are all studying engineering. The visit was hosted by Northumberland Estates in partnership with site contractor Tolent.
The Willowburn development will be a new retail park for the town with the first retailers opening for business this summer. A Marks & Spencer’s Food Hall and an additional outlet for local butcher Turnbulls will be amongst the first to commence trading.
The students were split into three groups for the visit, with each group having an interesting and informative tour of new development plus a talk from by Paul Wilson, the Tolent site manager.
Each site tour was followed by a question and answer session at the site office focusing on careers in the construction industry.
Vanessa Proudlock, Community Engagement and Education officer for Northumberland Estates said “Despite the awful weather on the day the students very much enjoyed their visit and felt that it had provided them with the opportunity to learn more about the reality of working on a construction site and the potential jobs available . Providing opportunities such as this for young people to have hands on experience is a really useful tool in helping them to decide on their future career and Northumberland Estates looks forward to providing more opportunities for students in the future.”
David Thompson, regional director for Tolent, said: “Across Tolent we are committed to supporting and giving opportunities to the next generation of construction workers and experiences like this one are important to help give a better idea of what a career in construction is really like and an opportunity to meet different professionals from across the industry. ”
