Construction student Maisie on London trip

CONSTRUCTION students at Derby College, including Codnor teenager Maisie Raybone, are set to travel to London this month to see for themselves how a building site is managed.

Organised by Pick Everard – a multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering partnership, , the 12 first year professional construction students will visit Norwood Green Infant and Nursery School as well as the Junior School, and Sparrow Farm Infant and Nursery School and its Junior School on 10 June.

Pick Everard has partnered with the college’s Professional Construction Career Academy and has set up the visit to show students exactly what to expect on a working construction site – and how to deal with the challenges of building under a flight path.

Paul Knifton, senior architect at Pick Everard, will accompany the students on the visits.

Director at Pick Everard’s Derby office, Paul Rothera, said: “We are working with the London Borough of Hounslow to deliver a number of new primary and special school places over the next five years, as there is a significant shortfall in the area.

“Initially we are working with Mansell on the expansion of ten primary schools in the area, including those four that we will visit next month. These four are particularly interesting as they are all under the Heathrow flight path and, as such, we have had to incorporate a series of measures to ensure reduced sound levels within the teaching areas.

“The students will get the opportunity to have a look around a working construction site and gain an understanding of how everything works. The different sites are all at differing stages of completion so they will be able to get a real snapshot of the processes behind expanding a school.”

Eighteen-year old, Daniel Bunting, from Chesterfield, is currently being mentored by Paul through the Career Academy and will join him on the visit to Hounslow.

He said: “Paul has shown me the plans for these projects and I am doing a planning exercise as part of my work with him to develop my technical design skills.

“I am looking forward to seeing the actual site and learning more about the process of planning and building these developments.”

Pick Everard, which has offices across the East Midlands and throughout the UK, is working with the London Borough of Hounslow for the provision of project management and full design services under the Government Procurement Services Framework to deliver a number of new primary and special school places to meet its statutory obligations over the next five years.

The firm has vast experience in education within the wider London area, having worked on nearly 200 schools within the M25 during the last four years.

Pick Everard is a partner on the Scape framework – which delivers hundreds of education schemes all over the UK.

Photograph (L-R): Paul Knifton (Pick Everard), Akdas Azhar (18, Normanton), Maisie Raybone (17, Codnor), Daniel Buntin (18, Chesterfield) and lecturer Will Lambert.