Garforth Academy TLevel Students Attend UKREiiF
UKREiiF (The UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum) is a huge annual event connecting organisations across the built environment sector, attended by Government, investors, developers, builders and more. This year attendees included 11 Year 12 Garforth Academy Building Services Engineering TLevel students. The students networked and workshopped their way through the 3 day event which spanned across The Royal Armouries and Leeds Docks.
Their attendance was fully funded by Constructive Futures, an organisation empowering young talent in the built environment. They aim to bridge the skills gap in this sector by guiding career paths and fostering equality diversity and inclusivity.
Preparing the Students for the Event
The week prior to UKREiiF the students attended an event preparation workshop hosted at the Leeds City Centre RLB office. They set up their Linked In profiles, practiced networking, and learnt how to create good video content for Linked In using their phones. A walk from the train station to Leeds Docs also meant they were confident in where they were going and got to see the event mid set up.
UKREiiF wasn’t just talks! Students met industry professionals, gaining sector knowledge and potential work experience contacts (supported by mentors). Talks, workshops, networking lunches, and even co-designing the South Bank with BDP filled their 3 days.
Feedback from the students indicates that the aim was certainly achieved.
100% of the students in attendance agreed that through this experience they have:
- Developed their understanding of the built environment sector
- Become more confident in the type of career they want
- Met people that may be able to offer them future opportunities
Takeaways from the Event
Other key takeaways included development of communication skills, confidence and commercial awareness.
One student commented:
The key thing I learnt from the experience was “how to communicate better with others and be confident as most of the time people will be interested and listen to you”
Another student commented:
I learnt “how much all industry’s focus on the future and moving onto sustainability and renewable energy; making their business more efficient”
Jenny Kitchen, Constructive Futures Co-Founder, praised the Garforth Academy students:
“Alot of built environment professionals invested time, and money to ensure the students were able to have the best experience possible, we’re very thankful to our sponsors and delivery partners. The amount of support just exemplifies how the sector wants to unite in developing our young people and improving EDI. The students had an amazing attitude and did very well, we were particularly impressed by the individual’s who presented during the co-design workshop”.
Follow Constructive Futures on Linked In for more information (3) Constructive Futures: Overview | LinkedIn
A Huge Thank You to Everyone Involved!
A huge thank you to the UKREiiF sponsors: Bradford City of Culture 2025 | Knauf Dry wall & Knauff ceiling solutions | Protech Roofing | Desco | Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber | BDP | Simpson | PWP Landscape Architecture
Another big thank you to the Constructive Future delivery partners: NJL | Sol Acoustics | Shelby | RLB | Hoare Lea | Southgate Sarabia | Building Rapport | Morgan Sindall | Vinci | BAM | Civic | Engineers | Dataflow
For more information on the Garforth Academy Careers Programme or the TLevel in Building Services Engineering please contact Lauren Llewellyn (Careers Lead).
Image Gallery
