Dozens of school children have been given a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of Chester’s biggest commercial development as part of a national campaign to attract more young people into the construction industry.
Builder and Developer Seddon, which is delivering the six-storey, 70,000 sq ft One City Place office building on behalf of Muse Developments, invited schools to take a look around the site next to Chester railway station on Friday, March 6 as part of the Open Doors Weekend campaign.
The event, which is run by industry bodies UK Construction Group (UKCG), CITB-ConstructionSkills, The Considerate Constructors Scheme, and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), helped showcase the wide range of skills that are needed to deliver regeneration projects like One City Place, and gave people the chance to find out more about careers in the industry.
City of Chester MP Stephen Mosley also joined the tour of the site.
Due for completion in December 2015, One City Place is part of the wider £200 million City Place regeneration scheme that will create a new Central Business Quarter in Chester, offering prime office space across 3.5 acres.
One City Place is the first of seven buildings in the new business quarter which will also include 200 homes, restaurants and leisure facilities in addition to the recently opened Waitrose supermarket in Boughton.
Chris Ellison, Project Manager for Seddon, said: “Campaigns like Open Doors are vital in helping people get a better understanding of what it means to work in our industry.
“Seddon has been a long-time campaigner for attracting more young people into the sector and delivering high quality training, so it is great to see so many school children on site and taking an interest in how amazing developments like One City Place come about, and their career options for the future.”
Phil Mayall, development director for Muse Developments, said: “The Open Doors event has been a great opportunity to welcome schools and budding construction workers to the City Place site so that they can see behind the hoardings for the first time. The Seddon team is making excellent progress, the central core recently completed and the steel frame will go up shortly so it’s really visual on site at the moment. We are currently half way through construction and right on track for completion in November 2015, when we look forward to launching the new development to the business community.”
Commenting Chester MP Stephen Mosley said: “It was fantastic to get a sneak-peak behind the scenes look at the new ‘One City Place’ development during the Open Doors Weekend. The new development along with the Waitrose will form the heart of Chester’s New Central Quarter providing prime office space over six storeys.
“The enthusiasm on the faces of the Construction students on the tour was evident – my only disappointment was that I couldn’t stay and enter the building challenge that Seddon’s training team had set for them.
“Apprenticeships through companies like Seddon are one of this Government’s real success stories and are absolutely vital to a growing economy. Last year alone there were 700 new apprenticeship starts in Chester, with 3200 starts since 2010 – a record high.”