Build Your Future

Exploring Careers in the Built Environment

Providing impactful activities and input into local communities has always been important to businesses within the Construction industry. Building relationships between business and education provides a way for businesses to forge powerful partnerships that will support and influence young people and their influencers to consider choosing a career in this industry.

Build Your Future has been developed by key partners across the supply chain within the Built Environment as a response to Covid restrictions challenging the way business and education have previously engaged. 

Supported by DYW Forth Valley, this virtual resource is complementary to 'New Year, First Career' and will be launched the week of the 1st March 2021 to coincide with Scottish Apprenticeship Week and in support of International Women's Day which is annually celebrated on 8th March.

Career insight, including films and resources will be hosted on the DYW Scot website, available and relevant to a national audience. Alongside these resources, a toolkit for educators and parents provides guidance on how local content can add value to the national offering, this can be facilitated by schools and/or their DYW regional group. This toolkit can also be used by School Career, Advice & Guidance Advisors as well as parents when supporting young people to make informed decisions relating to options and choices or next steps, post school.

​A link to the toolkit will be circulated to secondary schools by DYW regional groups prior to the launch week, thereafter all resources will be live on the DYW Scot website. 
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With contributions from over 40 partners including the Scottish Traditional Building Forum, CITB, Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, Scottish Building Standards, Scottish Futures Trust and Historic Environment Scotland amongst other industry contributors, this has been supported by DYW Forth Valley and STEM Development Officer for Stirling Council, Jayne Hamilton, to move to a virtual mode of delivery that will support the continued exposure to industry pathways and opportunities alongside the core learning taking place in schools.

Jayne Hamilton, STEM Development Officer for Stirling Council says: “Young people are still facing big choices about which subjects they want to take next year, they are still deciding what the right next step is when they leave school and which sectors the skills they are building will be best utilised and further developed in and it is more important than ever before that we continue to work with business to provide them with insight that will support them to make informed decisions. ‘Build Your Future’ is a suite of resources that provides a structure for educators to engage with, for parents/carers to dip into with their young people and to highlight the range of pathways available within the Built Environment in Scotland.”

Scottish Apprenticeships Week & International Women's Day

Build Your Future has been launched to coincide with Scottish Apprenticeship Week (1-5th March) and in support of International Women's Day (8th March). Each day there will be release of resources focusing on a central theme. These themes are:

Construction Scotland Innovation Centre and Scottish Futures Trust open and close the week’s events with insight into Innovation and Collaboration within the sector. Recorded conversations with individuals in a variety of roles, at different stages of their career journey’s and with completely different experiences and skills-sets demonstrate that there is #NoWrongPath to a career in the Built Environment. Throughout these themed days emphasis is on the people whose skills and job roles underpin this ever evolving industry.

Douglas Morrison, Director of Operations and Future Skills at Construction Scotland Innovation Centre says: “Young people have a unique opportunity to transform and modernise the construction industry. Our ability to innovate, create and collaborate is essential to tackle climate change and improve health and wellbeing through our built environment. There are roles for people with all types of skills, backgrounds, and ambitions. There has never been a more exciting time to pursue a career in construction.”

get involved

Industry Partners can support the message that these resources exist during the week and enhance the messaging by sharing insight into their businesses, employee roles, apprenticeship pathways, and the opportunities that exist for young people alongside appropriate hashtags. See the attached communication pack below, for a list of all hashtags that can be used.

John McKinney of the Scottish Traditional Building Forum says: “If you can’t see it you can’t be it. We want to showcase the whole construction supply chain, which is what we have tried to do with ‘Build Your Future’. If school pupils don’t know these potential careers exist within the built environment then they can’t pursue them."

Schools and Skills Development Scotland are encouraged to use the resources to insert within relevant lessons, and specifically, career education. They are invited to post content of their classes engaging with the resources on social media using the hashtags and tagging their local DYW regional group and @DYWScot. Schools are also encouraged to share these resources with parents/carers via communication services such as SchoolApp and GroupCall, or other services that may be used to raise awareness of the resources with parents who are supporting young people with options and choices or pathways decisions.

The packs below contain all the information and resources you will need to get involved with social media on the run-up to, and during Build Your Future.​

If you are a business interested in supporting Build Your Future or keen to engage with education in the classroom please get in touch by emailing us at getinvolved@dyw.forthvalley.ac.uk