A PROGRAMME to open young people's eyes to the construction world will become even bigger after the graduation of the first cohort of students.

The Centre for the Built Environment is one of several Industrial Centres of Excellence that Bradford Council set up to prepare more young people for work in various different industries by making them "job ready".

A total of 88 students, who made up the first cohort, have now been awarded with certificates for completing the construction course in a partnership run by the Council, Bradford College, Tong High School, Carlton Bolling College and numerous building businesses.

The first six month programme ran from January, and involved young people aged 14 to 19.

Over that period the students have made 18 visits to either the partner companies or the sites they are working on.

These include the Westfield Broadway site, one of the largest shopping centre construction projects in the UK, and and Forster Academy, a new secondary school opening in Bowling in September.

Throughout the course, the students were given a valuable insight into how the industry works, as well as a boost to their CVs. It runs alongside GCSE and A-level courses.

Companies involved include Wates Construction, Arnold Laver, and social housing provider Incommunities.

Out of the newly-graduated cohort, five have already been offered apprenticeships and several others work placements.

The next cohort will be made up of 120 students, and over a two year period more than 300 young people will have been involved.

The centre is based at the college and school sites and makes use of facilities such as Carlton Bolling's Construction Centre and a house on the Tong High School site which is used to teach construction techniques.

Stacey Jobson, project director for the centre, said: "The centre is very much about opening the eyes of these young people and helping them understand the diverse number of roles in the built environment.

"It is important they have this experience on their CV. The companies involved and a lot of other companies are aware of this course and the qualifications.

"According to the feedback we've received from students the course has really inspired some, and they really appreciated the graduation event."

Other Centres of Excellence include one for business, based at Shipley College, and the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Technologies, involving Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College and the University of Bradford.