If you’ve ever had an interest in construction or civil engineering then read on, as this may well be the college for you. Construction College East London was created specifically to boost the UK’s trained workers, with a wide variety of courses set up and already underway for people wanting to work on exciting projects such as the Olympic Park build.

Eton Manor is one of six sites in the country run by the National Construction College (NCC) – the largest construction training provider in Europe, and began as a centre to offer both young apprentices and adult students who wish to retrain and get back to work, a wide range of specialist courses.

Thanks to a collaboration between a number of big bodies including the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the NCC, the Eton Manor site was funded and up and running in amazing time. Designed to mimic a construction site, it’s given trainees the ability to practice using machinery and know what it feels like to work on-site, and many trainees have already completed their courses and are already on their way to working on some impressive projects.

The courses range from learning to drive a dumper truck and using an excavator to directing crane operators. Most importantly, from 2009, further apprentice-focused training will be available, with 2000 placements and apprenticeships looking set to be offered over the following four years.

“We’re dealing with businesses, students and apprentices and there are many routes into the college,” highlights Andy Walder, NCC commercial services manager. “The first is through the London Development Agency (LDA) and the five host boroughs as they have funded us to provide training to long-term unemployed people. Next is via companies as the students/apprentices are put on courses.”

Operator card

“Effectively we train them to the point where they get their trainee operator card, which means they can operate on site under supervision. At a later point in time, once they’ve completed their log book of work that they do and how many hours they completed on specific machines, we then assess them to ensure they are competent and skilful enough to work on their own, in which case they move on to their full operator card.”

Walder then goes on to focus on the apprenticeship offerings.

“Apprentice courses with us are mainly 12 weeks long. Over that time they would be trained on four pieces of kit, which differ depending on which course they choose,” he explains. “The plant focused course includes machinery like road rollers, mini excavators etc, whereas the civil engineering course concentrates on the bigger bits of kit such as scrapers and earthmovers. There’s another course specifically on cranes. The smaller course can be completed entirely at Eton Manor however with the bigger equipment we move our students to other sites where equipment is already in place.”

The Olympics and beyond

Of course, many trainees on the site over the next year or two, will get the opportunity to work on the Olympic Park build, however work won't suddenly disappear when this is complete. Discussions and work is already underway on other big projects such as Thames Gateway and Crossrail in London alone, so as a career option, the work is out there if you want it.

After reading this do you think you're interested in a career in construction? Well Walder also offers some advice on what kinds of people are best suited to this career.

“Obviously you have to be prepared to turn up early in the morning and to work hard, long hours etc. However, if you're good on games consoles; can use left and right handed controllers, so are ambidextrous this is also a positive. These are the kinds of things that will make you a better plant operator,” he says.

For more information on opportunities at Construction College East London contact your local job centre plus office. If you live within one of the five host boroughs (Boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, and Greenwich) you can also find out more about local employment and training opportunities by contacting your local brokerage directly.