To launch a series of Construction Careers Weeks taking place in Manchester, Birmingham and London this September and October, the winner of a national competition to design a campaign to encourage young people to consider a career in construction, as well as diversify the sector, has been announced.
Built Environment Skills in Schools (BESS) – the organisation behind Construction Careers Week – teamed up with One Minute Briefs, a user-generated social media content community that challenges people to create an advertising concept in only one minute in response to a one sentence brief.
In total, over 80 designs were submitted in 24 hours to BESS’ challenge to: “Create posters to inspire the next generation of construction workers to address the skills shortage and make the sector more diverse for #ConstructionCareersWeek.” The campaign generated 1,800 social media engagements and reached over 41,000 people online.
The entries were whittled down to a shortlist of 13 and the winner – Yellow is the New Black, by David Felton was chosen as the winner by BESS.
Kathryn Lennon Johnson, founder of BESS, said: “We were so impressed by the creativity that came from all the entries to our One Minute Brief challenge, and it was difficult to choose just one winner. The skills shortage in the construction industry is a major issues – and something we need as many people as possible to be aware of. Collaborating with One Minute Briefs gave us the opportunity to not only generate some amazing ads, but it also gave us a platform to communicate to people across the UK what we’re trying to achieve with Construction Careers Week.
“We’ll show the designs to the students we meet during Construction Careers Weeks in Manchester, Birmingham and London to start conversations and challenge their perceptions of what a career is like in the sector.”
Manchester Construction Careers Week starts 24 September, focusing on diversity and gender, with the Inspire Summit at the Bridgewater Hall on 25 September a key date. In Birmingham, the careers week starts 8 October, focusing on the future of construction and tech, with a number of activities taking place at UK Construction Week at the NEC Wednesday 10 October. Finally, London Construction Careers Week will take place from 15 October and focus on past, present and future. Additional activities will take place at London Build Thursday 25 October.
For more information, visit the BESS website.
