Launched in January 2023, BPART the Building Plymouth Aspiring Rising Talent Network aims to bring together local apprentices and recent graduates who are working within the Building Plymouth network to enhance their training experience whilst helping to create new professional relationships. BPART provides a free 12-month programme of CPD activity enabling both trade and technical apprentices at all levels and recent graduates to access structured workshops to support their development, increased knowledge of how the industry works and has created a strong network for peer support.
The BPART initiative is an innovative and pro-active approach to motivating, developing and supporting new entrants joining the industry, whilst also helping to improve retention. As an inclusive programme for local construction apprentices and recent graduates, it offers significant added value to their on-the-job learning.
Networking and building relationships are key to successfully working and progressing in the construction industry. BPART starts these conversations positively at the beginning of the apprentices’ and graduates’ career journeys, creating a new supportive and friendly local network for new entrants.
The programme of monthly BPART workshop sessions is delivered in-kind by prominent construction employers along with sessions covering mental health and well-being, health and safety, leadership and teamwork, mentoring, and equality, diversity and inclusion. Regular site visits are organised so that technical apprentices/graduates are able to get hands on to see how their drawings and plans need to come to life, and trade apprentices are better able to understand the design processes that inform the build.
