Local students visit Peter James Homes’ Kings Park development as part of school’s Go4SET initiative

Students from Quarrydale Academy in Sutton-in-Ashfield recently went on a site visit to Kings Park in Bestwood – one of the latest developments from our house building division, Peter James Homes.

The students were required to complete the visit as part of their nationally-recognised Go4SET initiative – a UK-wide scheme where schools put forward a group of six students to conduct an industry-related visit and receive mentoring from a local industry expert.

Our Quality and Lean Manager, Ben Feltham, is mentoring the group for ten weeks and recently accompanied the students on their guided tour of the Kings Park development on Wednesday 1st May, hosted by the site’s Construction Manager, Gavin Brothers.

Gavin gave an introductory talk to the students about Peter James Homes and its team and provided background information relating to the house building and construction industries. He also presented examples of technical drawings and talked through the differences between greenfield and brownfield sites.

Other areas covered during the tour include decision-making processes relating to what to build on a site, the time it takes to build a new home and the number of contractors and subcontractors required, the processes for planning and monitoring a site and the handover process to the sales team and customers with a specific focus on the aftercare process.

The students will use the information gained from the tour to assist them with their Stations for the Future project. This requires the group to visit a local railway station and identify its working functions whilst proposing specifications for future designs and considering factors such as end use, sustainability and energy consumption.

Upon completion of the project the pupils will produce a detailed report, deliver a 5-minute presentation and build a model of their station design – which will be presented to a panel of industry experts during an East Midlands regional Celebration and Assessment Day on the 27th June, at Derby County’s Pride Park stadium.

Science teacher at Quarrydale Academy, Mr P Scott, found the tour invaluable for the students and hopes that it will help to shape their decision-making when considering their Go4SET project.

“We would like to extend a sincere thank you to both McCann and Peter James Homes for arranging and conducting the site visit at Kings Park,” he said.

“It really opened the students’ eyes as to the processes in place within a construction environment and it will make them think even harder when it comes to developing their train station designs.”

Following the tour, our Constriction Manager, Gavin, was full of praise for the students and hopes to see them become leading lights in the industry in the future – “The students were very attentive and set a shining example on behalf of Quarrydale Academy,” he said.

“I hope that the information we passed on to them helps them with the remainder of the project and I look forward to seeing how they progress and the result they achieve come the final assessment day!”