Morgan Sindall launches first construction Academy with East Kent Colleges Group

A ceremony has been held to mark the opening of Morgan Sindall Construction’s inaugural Academy at EKC Canterbury College, which has been developed through a new partnership with East Kent Colleges Group.

The Morgan Sindall Academy will provide the next generation of construction professionals with the skills, knowledge, and training they need to succeed in today’s built environment sector.

The Academy will support students through their T-levels into training and work placement opportunities, also using Morgan Sindall’s supply chain to connect them to employers and opportunities.

Students enrolled in the Academy will be studying a T-Level in Design, Surveying, and Planning for Construction. Through a combination of workshop sessions, theory tests, work experience, industry trips, and employer connections, students will be constantly learning best practice across a variety of disciplines.

A wider Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see Morgan Sindall Construction and East Kent Colleges Group work together on a range of projects which will benefit students across the whole of East Kent, developing their understanding of the built environment sector and building the skills they’ll need to seamless integrate into the workforce of the future.

Thanks to the connection between Morgan Sindall and the East Kent Colleges Group, students will have first-hand access to experienced construction professionals and management staff, providing a valuable boost to their T Level Programme.

This project built on the tier one contractor’s earlier successes at EKC Canterbury College, supporting T level students with work placements and professional studies for the past two years.

To transform this support into the creation of a complete learning environment, Morgan Sindall’s Southern Home Counties business invested £15k into the facility, leveraged its local supply chain connections, and built on its strong existing relationship with EKC Canterbury College.

Complete with new flooring and an internal fit-out with the help of local contractors Elite Flooring, Lowe and Son Decorators, Nuneaton Signs, and Martin Robinson Carpentry, the space will accommodate two cohorts of students per year.

Guy Hannell, Area Director for Morgan Sindall Construction in the Southern Home Counties, said:

The Construction Industry is a great place to work; it’s project based so no two days are the same and no two challenges either. The projects we deliver, they are legacies, they stay for years and years.

Construction truly is an enabler for so many other things which take place in a society and we are thrilled to be supporting these young people taking their first steps into a really exciting career.

Stephen Paine, Senior Operations Manager for Morgan Sindall in the Southern Home Counties and Head of the Academy, attended EKC Canterbury College and began his career in construction following his education at the college. This gave him a personal connection to the project and the need to showcase the benefits of this route into the construction sector to young people today.

He said:

It means a lot to bring the Morgan Sindall Academy to EKC Canterbury College, and just to be back on the grounds. There’s a real skills shortage of young people in the industry, and with the right support and guidance, we hope to help fill that gap and show students the incredible opportunities that are available to them."

Paul Sayers, Chief Information and Strategy Officer at EKC Group, said:

The Morgan Sindall Academy is a fantastic demonstration of what technical education is all about and how Colleges and employers can work in partnership to really benefit the students, whilst providing a future workforce. We’ve got the Morgan Sindall team of experts coming in to talk to the students about a range of key topics, from surveying and design right through to project management, allowing them to gain the skills they need to thrive in the industry.”

Riley Evans was one of the first students to receive a T Level qualification at EKC Canterbury College’s Knowledge Quad. Thanks to the skills he learned and the practical experience he gained during the course, he is now a Construction apprentice at Morgan Sindall and studying for an HNC (Level 4) in Quantity Surveying at Mid-Kent College. He said:

I studied my T-Level here in design surveying and planning and took my placement with Morgan Sindall before this became the academy. Just coming back into my old classrooms, it’s changed so much, it gives the course a real home and I think great things are going to be achieved here.”

ENDS

For more information, please contact Gabriella Elia at Influential, Elia@thisisinfluential.com