East Durham College is delighted to announce a new partnership with leading Gateshead-headquartered Robertson Homes to develop a range of exciting opportunities for students studying construction programmes.
The Developing Futures project will allow students who work hard and dedicate themselves to their studies to access exciting apprenticeship opportunities within Robertson Homes developments in our region.
Robertson Homes has also organised a panel of its supply chain partner companies, covering joinery, brickwork, electrical, plumbing and painting and decorating, to visit the college as guest lecturers. The housebuilder has also been extensively involved in curriculum planning across the college’s construction department to ensure the development of a curriculum that reflects the modern construction industry.
East Durham College and Robertson will be working alongside each other across this academic year with planned site visits for each of the college’s construction trades, as well as opportunities for work experience. Learners will then get the opportunity to be put forward for apprenticeships with Robertson Homes, allowing them to put what they’ve learned into practice and start their careers in the construction industry.
Andy Dodds, regional director at Robertson Homes, said: “There are excellent career opportunities in the construction industry and we wanted to give young people from East Durham the chance to gain experience and learn from our panel of highly skilled trades professionals.
“Apprenticeships represent the best way of unearthing the next generation of construction industry talent and the combination of quality teaching from East Durham College and mentoring from Robertson Homes’ panel will give students opportunities to forge successful and rewarding construction careers.”
Joining Robertson Homes’ ‘Developing Futures’ project are Fusion Joinery, PJS Brickwork, DJR Smith Electricians, P Bertram Decorating and Lorne Stewart Engineering.
Scott Bullock, Principal and CEO of East Durham College, said: “I am thrilled to launch the Developing Futures project alongside Robertson Homes.
“Thanks to our new partnership with Robertson and our other supporting partners, this is a very exciting time to get started in the construction industry for our students. The Developing Futures project will do just that; it’ll give our students more opportunities to get started in their future careers, and that’s what the learning experience is all about here at East Durham College. We can’t wait to see the exciting places our students go to thanks to this project.”
