Bouygues UK, the construction company building Cardiff University’s cutting-edge Innovation Campus, has welcomed its first higher education Ambassadors on site.
Five student volunteers from diverse backgrounds and areas of academic study at Cardiff University have been recruited to write, blog and share social media posts about their exclusive insights into the build on the city centre site.
Bouygues UK has worked with student Ambassadors in partnership with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) on projects at schools in Margam, Port Talbot and Penarth, but this is the first time Bouygues UK is partnering with students at a higher education establishment to help with community communication.
Three of the new student Ambassadors have visited the site to see how Bouygues UK and Cardiff University are working together to transform a former disused rail yard into a state-of-the-art campus for high-tech job creation and student start-ups, and to create further expertise in compound semi-conductors.
Nick Toulson, Bouygues UK CSR manager for Cardiff Innovation Campus, said: “It is so encouraging that we have students from such diverse courses as Medicine, Urban Planning and Development and Civil Engineering.
“The student Ambassadors at the comprehensive schools we were building were amazing at informing their friends and peers about what was going on with the build, so we were really pleased when Cardiff University wanted to replicate the scheme at the Innovation Campus.”
Nick added: “The Ambassadors will not only get to see how the site is developing from the inside, but they will also gain access to Bouygues UK’s expertise in design, construction management, health and safety and quality – all disciplines which I’m sure will help in their future careers.”
Luke Morgan, a third-year medicine student, is one of the Ambassador cohorts. He explained that the complexity of the project and the abstract thinking and forward planning that is required to get over challenges with the build is what attracted him to be an Ambassador.
“It is a very busy site where Bouygues UK is able to bring together a diverse range of people with their own parts to play and do the job to the standard required, which is a real feat of organisation.”
Fellow Ambassador, Nuzha Nadeem, a first-year Civil and Environment Engineering student, originally from Abu Dhabi, said: “It’s been a very good experience. Normally in University, we get to hear the theory, but here we get to see engineering in practice. Hands-on experience of work on site really matters as our job is physically being here.”
CITB Construction Ambassadors play a vital role in supporting and promoting careers in the construction industry. For more information click here.
For more information about the Cardiff Innovation Campus, visit: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/innovation/campus-investment
