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It is vital that the construction industry invests in its next generation of leaders, especially in the current market conditions. Leaders 4 The Future promotes undergraduate work opportunities in the industry, accrediting those organisations that are making an effort to recruit students through the downturn, raising the profile of this important issue.

G4C board members Fred Mills of Willmott Dixon, who is leading the team, and Faithful+Gould’s Sarah Heppinstall flag up the benefits of supporting the scheme.

Fred Mills

We’re promoting the importance of investing in undergraduate talent by recognising the efforts of those companies that are already doing it. It’s a fantastic thing to be involved with and the tremendous support that we’ve received so far is really encouraging.

Sir Michael Latham [new patron of the scheme] gave his support to the scheme in April and I still can’t quite believe it. Just to meet someone of his calibre is an honour let alone to receive his advice on this initiative. It makes all of the hard work so far worthwhile and has really boosted our morale.

A three tier accreditation system acknowledges the varying extremities of opportunity on offer whilst highlighting to students and universities which organisations are worth approaching.  

Sarah Heppinstall

There are many construction organisations already offering invaluable undergraduate opportunities.

Leaders 4 The Future provides those companies with a base of high calibre students to apply for their placements. The three tier system gives clarity of exactly what the student will be expecting of their placement.

My 12-month industrial placement year gave me a broad experience of the demands placed on a project manager, which gave me a solid foundation for my future career.  

My experience on site gave me an invaluable understanding to implement the processes and techniques that you are taught in the classroom during your degree. The placement gave me the ability to ‘hit the ground running’ for my first employment position after graduating.

Organisations endorsing Leaders 4 The Future include

• Constructing Excellence
• Total Jobs Group
• Atkins/Faithful+Gould
• Willmott Dixon Group
• Kier Group
• Arup
• BAM
• Francis Construction
• University of Reading
• Loughborough University
• University of the West of England (UWE)
• Liverpool John Moores University
• Greenwich University
• Aberdeen University
• Aston University
• University of Westminster

Sarah Heppinstall is a consultant at Faithful+Gould and Fred Mills is at Willmott Dixon.