Lovell - Bath school students build their own house

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Bath school students build their own house – with help from Lovell

Students from Oldfield School, Bath, have built their first house - with help from Lovell.

Thirty-two female Year 10 students took part in a housebuilding workshop devised by Lovell, which is building 74 new homes nearby at Southlands, Weston, as part of a major regeneration scheme for Somer Community Housing Trust.

Oldfield School students, left to right, Lauren, Chakhila, Carley and Jade with the Lovell House.

As well as building a 1.5 metre-high wooden house, the students tackled construction-themed tasks including using mathematics to calculate materials needed to build a property; exploring the planning and sustainability issues involved in creating a new housing development and learning about different construction industry jobs.

“Oldfield students thoroughly enjoyed participating in this enrichment event and were certainly challenged to explore stereotypical careers they had not considered before,” says Nicola Turner, vocational coordinator at Oldfield School.

Lovell regional training advisor Mike Davis says: “Working with schools forms an important part of our commitment to getting involved with the local community and providing students with an insight into the variety of careers opportunities available in our industry. As women are under-represented in the construction workforce nationally, it was great to have the opportunity to hold the workshop at Oldfield School.” The event included careers information provided by a representative from industry body ConstructionSkills.

Mike Grist, director of business development at Somer Housing Group, comments: “We are pleased to be working in partnership with Lovell not only to build new homes for local people but to promote the wide range of exciting opportunities within the construction industry for young people about to enter the world of work.”

Lovell is set to follow up the workshop by organising for the Oldfield students to visit the new homes it is building at Southlands, Weston, for Somer Community Housing Trust. They form part of a £27 million regeneration scheme to demolish pre-cast reinforced concrete homes in Bath and Keynsham and develop 275 homes for rent and shared ownership for Somer.