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Tue March 19 2024

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Redrow develops house-building BSc degree programme

19 Jan 18 Britain’s first degree course in house-building has been set up for employees of Redrow and could soon be available to other company staff too.

The degree programme is structured to allow students to work and study at the same time
The degree programme is structured to allow students to work and study at the same time

Redrow has teamed up with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Coleg Cambria in Wrexham to launch UK’s first dedicated house-building degree.

The first students to embark on the three-year degree programme will be Redrow employees and they will start their course in 2018. Redrow says that it hopes to open the degree out to other house-builders over the coming years.

Students will be taught about house-building quality, project management, health & safety, business skills, negotiation, law, maths and economics. Six modules will be completed each year by students.

Candidates will be assessed on coursework, exam results and a final-year dissertation. In each year there are six weeks of classroom learning which will be taught in partnership between LJMU’s Department of the Built Environment, Coleg Cambria and Redrow’s own managers, with the rest of the contact time satisfied through virtual learning, practical site visits and tutorials. This means that students will be able to continue to combine working for Redrow with their studies.

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Any Redrow employee with an NVQ level three qualification or a minimum of five years in industry can be nominated for the programme and Redrow expects up to 15 people to participate in each year.  The first two years will form a foundation degree with the final year topping up to become a full BSc (Hons) Construction Management in Housebuilding degree, validated by Liverpool John Moores University.

Redrow human resources director Karen Jones, who is also a trustee at the Construction Industry Training Board, said: “The housebuilding sector has a real opportunity to innovate the way we develop and deliver skills training to ensure colleagues can fulfil their potential and progress in their careers. Part of that means working in partnership with further education and higher education providers to develop new pathways that enable recruits to develop the aptitude, attitude and strategic nous to deliver communities at scale. This is why we are working with Coleg Cambria and Liverpool John Moores University to deliver the UK’s first dedicated house-building degree. Participants on the course will be able to learn while they earn and develop the skills necessary to rise through the ranks in the housebuilding sector.”

She continued: “We feel it is important to share best practice with other house-builders and we hope that in the future that the degree programme can be opened up to construction industry workers from across the industry. We believe this new programme will encourage people to enter the sector, as well as imparting crucial skills on those already in the workforce.”

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