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Construction: Civil Engineer & Architecture Education

Construction continues to be one of the largest business sectors in the world today. It can range from Building Skills, to Architecture and on to Design and even Health and Safety issues at work. There are many routes to a variety of careers within the Construction Industry.

Choices for careers within Construction fundamentally span 3 skill levels. The main on-site labour is often referred to as un-skilled or semi-skilled, primarily due to the lack of formal industry qualifications. The next level is that of skilled labour and this refers to the Foremen and Managers who work on-site.

Then there remain those jobs relating to technical and management work. Due to the fact that these people hold the highest qualifications in this sector they are the ones who manage, plan, design and train the construction methods.

There are plenty of resources to look at here, especially if want jobs or to train within this industry. Why not add this page to your Favourites by keying in CTRL-D for when you want to come back to them?

Construction Training within Great Britain

In the United Kingdom, further education certifications are deemed a must-have for those in a skilled occupation. There are a number of ways for people to get their qualifications, whether this is by work-related training or through an FE college. Throughout the UK, 8,500 construction-related apprenticeships were started in 2007. Today, as well as the eighteen thousand or so people being trained in construction, there are well over six hundred thousand people working in the industry.

Overall work ranges from building construction, through heavy or civil construction to industrial construction. They all focus on different areas of the market.

Building Construction is the initial area to check off. Essentially this is where extensions are built onto existing houses. This can involve relatively minor projects such as restoration work and redecoration. Heavy/Civil Construction is essentially the domain of the medium-sized 'build-for-profit' companies. 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. Often the people behind these industrial construction projects are huge profit based companies.

The large industrial developments (and the bigger civil ones too) require very experienced professionals from many different backgrounds. The range of plans also raises the costs, with large industrial projects sometimes costing up to a billion pounds or more. Let's now get an overview of some of the professionals who work in the industry:

Civil Engineering

Usually Civil Engineers hold degree level qualifications in their subject matter. The Chartered Engineer qualification is issued by the Institution of Civil Engineers. New university graduates are usually expected to hold a Master's Degree to become Chartered. However, anyone graduating with a Bachelors Degree can go on to become an Incorporated Engineer at that stage.

Building Services Engineers

This is another way of saying Mechanical or Electrical Engineers. These candidates usually hold degrees in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. Building Services Engineers can join the CIBSE in the UK. There are eight grades of membership, depending on experience and qualifications.

Project Manager

Individuals typically hold a 2 year or greater higher education qualification, but are also qualified in another field such as 'Quantity Surveying' or 'Civil Engineering'.

Quantity Surveying

Training for work as a Quantity Surveyor starts with an appropriate three or four year degree course. Chartered status is gained from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Structural Engineer

Senior structural engineers generally hold a Bachelors or Masters Degree in structural engineering. New university graduates must hold a Masters Degree to gain Chartered status from the Institute of Structural Engineers.

Architect

Architectural students must be prepared for a lengthy training process, which includes a university degree and post-grad study and work. Professional status is monitored and assessed in the UK by RIBA, the Royal Institute of British Architects.