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Construction & Quantity Surveying Courses

There's no doubt that construction is one of the most embracing of today's business sectors. It can range from Building Skills, to Architecture and on to Design and even Health and Safety issues at work. Naturally such diversity means there are various training paths leading to all the different roles.

Basically, there are three tiers of careers within the construction industry. The 'Unskilled' and 'Semi Skilled' workforce are generally the on-site labour with little or no formal construction qualifications. Foremen and Site Managers are known as "Skilled", mainly due to the level of technical skills they're qualified and experienced in.

At the top of the scale we have the careers relating to more senior management and technical staff. The people who work in these professions are responsible for planning and executing complete projects.

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Training in Construction in the UK

Skilled jobs demand some form of further education study - predominantly in subjects connected to the vocation itself. Students can go through a college or by on-the-job training to get their required qualifications. Just over two years ago, over 8,500 construction training positions began in this country. In addition to the 613,000 or so people within the construction trades in the UK during 2009 another 18,000 students were assigned to training programmes.

In the industry there are three standard construction sectors. They all focus on different areas of the market.

Building construction is the first part of the review. Fundamentally this is the process of adding to and enhancing domestic properties. For example with the addition of rooms or renovation of bathrooms etc. Profit centred organisations that work on medium sized projects come under the heavy construction category. The third sector of construction is industrial - by far the largest projects fall into this category, though they're much fewer and far between than the others. The owners of these large-scale projects are usually vast for-profit, industrial corporations.

The large industrial developments (and the bigger civil ones too) require very experienced professionals from many different backgrounds.

It's fair to say that as you go down from the large scale projects to the smaller one's the size of the budget involved also goes down from sometimes many millions of pounds to just a few hundred. So let's now go through a number of technical construction career paths:

Civil Engineering

A Civil Engineer usually holds a degree in a relative subject. The Chartered Engineer qualification is issued by the Institution of Civil Engineers. To achieve chartered status engineering graduates need to hold the four year MEng. However, anyone graduating with a Bachelors Degree can go on to become an Incorporated Engineer at that stage.

Building Services Engineer

These can also be referred to as 'M&E Engineers'. For this type of position it is customary for people to have a suitable degree e.g. in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. Chartered Engineer status is usually governed by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

Project Management

Often it's by being qualified in either quantity surveying or civil engineering, along with a professional certification such as PRINCE 2 that these positions become available.

Quantity Surveying

The first stage to becoming a quantity surveyor is to graduate with an approved degree or masters degree. More professional training (along with time spent in industry) can be gained from RICS, the industry body for standards and certifications.

Structural Engineers

Anyone working as a structural engineer on major projects will have their say about the environment we live in. SE's often work alongside architects and designers on the construction of structures. As structures have to remain safe and serviceable for many years, the designs, materials and calculations all have to be expertly worked through.

Architects

The standard entry route into the architectural profession takes at least seven years, and is a blend of academic and practical study and work. Architects work closely with other construction professionals, such as engineers, quantity surveyors and the other specialists referred to above.