Redrow, the leading house builder, in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and Coleg Cambria, one of the UK’s largest colleges have established the UK’s first dedicated Housebuilding Degree. LJMU have also validated the qualification. 

The first students to embark on the degree programme will be Redrow team members and they will start their course in 2018. Over the coming years Redrow hope to open the degree out to other house builders.

The three-year degree gives candidates a full overview of housebuilding skills; these include housebuilding quality, project management, health and safety, business skills, negotiation, right through to relevant aspects of law, mathematics and economics. Six modules will be completed each year by students.

Candidates will be assessed in a variety of ways including examinations, coursework and a final year dissertation project. In each year there are six block weeks of classroom learning which will be taught in partnership between LJMU’s Department of the Built Environment, Coleg Cambria and Redrow business experts 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 with Redrow with their studies.

Karen Jones, Group HR Director at Redrow and Trustee at the Construction Industry Training Board, comments: “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 Housebuilding 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.”

“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.”

Brian Berry, chief executive of trade body the Federation of Master Builders, said that while Redrow’s degree was a welcome step in the right direction, more action was needed from the Government to address the current skills crisis in construction.

“One of the reasons for the construction skills shortage is the fact that for too long, the Government and society more generally have held academic education in high esteem while looking down on those who pursue vocational education routes,” said Mr Berry.

“The Government must stick to its mission of increasing the quality of vocational training as it’s the only way we’ll improve the image of vocational education, attract more people into the industry and solve the construction skills crisis once and for all,”