Leeds Metropolitan University and BAM Construction have announced a new pioneering partnership this week which will give students access to a range of work experience, graduate traineeships and real-life projects to prepare them for their careers.
The formal partnership was established at an event at Broadcasting Place on Thursday 12 December where Dr Andrew Platten, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology at Leeds Metropolitan University, and John Phillips, Construction Director at BAM, signed an official memorandum of understanding. Dr Platten commented: “The new partnership will provide placement opportunities for our students in the School of Built Environment and Engineering as well as graduate traineeships, projects on our construction sites and postgraduate research opportunities. The relationship will also allow the University to deliver its construction projects with greater efficiency and effectiveness.
“This working partnership provides experience of ‘real life’ delivery, underpinned by academic teaching, whilst it improves opportunities for our students during and after their studies, boosting their career progression.”
John Phillips added: “It’s great for BAM that we working once again with Leeds Met following on from the success of working together on the Rose Bowl and Carnegie Pavilion. This longer-term relationship will provide a unique opportunity for truly using the construction as a real-life learning platform for as many students as possible.”
Students will be able to take guided tours around the construction sites on the University campuses, including the current site at the Calverley building. Additionally, the partnership will see members of the BAM team assisting Leeds Met academics in delivering Construction and Project Management-related course modules by inputting their first-hand experience of specialist areas such as building information modelling.
The partnership between Leeds Metropolitan University and BAM began with the construction company building the Rose Bowl and Carnegie Pavilion buildings for the University, with members of staff at BAM studying Construction Management part-time alongside their work, including Site Manager Ryan Geldard, who graduated this summer with a first class degree.
