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Construction students from Leicester College have visited one of the biggest affordable homes schemes in the city to learn more about timber frame as part of their studies. Thirteen trainee bricklayers and two lecturers from the college’s Freemens Park campus visited the £15m project on Ross Walk, in the Belgrave area of the city, where 119 new affordable homes are being built by Westleigh Developments using timber frame construction methods. The students, all of whom are working towards their Level 2 Diploma in Bricklaying at the college, of which timber is one of the modules, were shown around the scheme by Westleigh senior site manager Jason Mann, who also talked them through the various stages of timber frame construction. Lee Merry, lecturer at Leicester College, comments, “We are really grateful to Westleigh for taking the time to welcome the students to the site on Ross Walk. Jason and his team were able to show us around and answer the many questions that the students asked about timber frame construction, which has only been part of the bricklaying syllabus for two years. Whilst the theory behind such a trade is important, practical visits like this are vitally important to their continual education. Later that afternoon the students took their end of unit assessment and all passed with flying colours, so it was certainly a worthwhile trip.” Senior site manager Jason Mann says, “It was a real pleasure to welcome these construction students to Ross Walk. They were all very attentive, keen to learn and asked some really intelligent questions. We were more than happy to pass on our experience and hope they benefited from their time here.” Tony Keable, Production Director at Westleigh, adds, “For several years now we have developed our own timber frame at our Westframe factory in Enderby, which is then used in all our residential and commercial projects. We strongly believe in the importance of contributing towards the education of youngsters, particularly those interested in the construction industry, so we were more than happy to welcome these students from Leicester College to discover first-hand the varying techniques we use with timber frame methods of construction.” |
