Open Doors 2018 inspiring the next generation

Open Doors, which is delivered by Build UK in partnership with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) as part of the Inspiring Construction campaign, sees Build UK members open live construction sites and offices for the public to go ‘behind the scenes’ and showcase the huge variety of careers available in the industry.

Ahead of the event, which is taking place from Monday 19 – Saturday 24 March 2018, Build UK is encouraging its members from across the construction supply chain to participate by registering their projects, offices and training centres on the Open Doors website which will be ready for visitors to book their visits from January.

This year’s event saw over 5,000 visitor bookings across 209 construction sites in England, Scotland and Wales.

Enticing new people into the industry

Open Doors seeks to inspire young people and career changers to consider and explore a dynamic and exciting career in the construction industry and feedback from last year’s event showed 97% of visitors rated their visit as good or excellent, with 83% saying they would consider a career in construction as a result of their visit.

For 2018, Build UK and the Open Doors partners, CITB, CSCS and media partner Construction News are aiming to continue to build on the success of previous years’ and enable even more people to go behind the hoardings to experience valuable insights into construction.

Sarah Beale, Chief Executive of CITB said: “We are delighted to be partnering up with Build UK once again for Open Doors. We know that once people get to see how exciting being on a live construction site is, and the huge range of professions and trades that work together, they see the industry in a new light. “I would encourage as many contractors as possible to open up their sites to the public and showcase the wide range of opportunities available in construction.”

Build UK Chief Executive Suzannah Nichol MBE said: “We are extremely proud of the fantastic success of Open Doors 2017 and look forward to another record-breaking year in 2018. Open Doors is a fantastic initiative highlighting the exciting work that our industry is undertaking in cities, towns and local communities across the country. We can’t wait to get started and look forward to our members’ opening as many sites as possible!”

This year's Open Doors

So far 42 sites have been registered and include:

• Aykon London One, a 50-storey luxury residential tower being built by Multiplex
• Wembley Park, a residential development being delivered by Wates
• University College Birmingham, for which Kier is the contractor
• Lincolnshire fire, police and ambulance services joint station, being built by Willmott Dixon

Registration will close by the middle of February.

Further information

Open Doors - Get into construction 

CITB - Contractors encouraged to open sites for Open Doors 2018