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Prospects In The Construction Industry With Architecture Courses

Construction continues to be one of the largest business sectors in the world today. It is far bigger than many people think, and includes careers for architects, designers, engineers, project managers and even health & safety officials within its remit. With so much choice within the industry, the right qualifications are now very important.

Essentially there are three layers of profession within the industry. The least certified members of the workforce will be employed on building sites and are generally known as Unskilled and/or Semi Skilled. 'Skilled labour' often relates to the On-Site managers or Foremen who have extensive knowledge and experience of their profession. Finally, there are Technical and Management workers. These are the people with the greatest educational qualifications (usually graduate degrees), trained to design, plan and manage the overall construction process.

Bookmarking this page (a keyboard shortcut is Ctrl D) would help if you wanted to check out the links and adverts to a few training companies in this area.

Construction Sectors & Training Frameworks

In the United Kingdom, further education certifications are deemed a must-have for those in a skilled occupation. Most trainees gain their skills through a combination of technical college training and work experience. Throughout the UK, 8,500 construction-related apprenticeships were started in 2007. As of last year, there were over 600,000 people employed throughout the construction industry with 18,000 students being trained.

Within construction itself, there are three types of processes: Building Construction, Heavy/Civil Construction and Industrial Construction. The two commercial areas require similar trade and professional skill-sets, though each is unique in some ways.

The first is Building Construction. Fundamentally this is the process of adding to and enhancing domestic properties. The vast majority are small-scale projects such as renovations. Larger scale projects are mostly the domain of civil construction, which comes mid-way between building and industrial. The third sector of construction is industrial - by far the largest projects fall into this category, though they're much fewer and far between than the others. Large scale profits encourage multi-national organisations to get involved in such builds.

The Heavy/Civil and Industrial construction sectors primarily involve broader technical skills to finish each scheme. Financiers looking to fund the biggest industrial concerns sometimes have to raise tens of millions or more in investment money before they can get started. Next we'll cover a range of technical and specialised occupations in construction today -

Civil Engineer

Civil Engineers typically need to be qualified with good civil engineering degrees. In the UK, the Institute of Civil Engineers offers the Chartered Engineer accreditation programme as well.

To become a Chartered Engineer, university graduates are likely to have a Masters Degree. However, anyone graduating with a Bachelors Degree can go on to become an Incorporated Engineer at that stage.

Building Services Engineers

Building Services Engineers can equally be listed as 'M&E' Engineers. You normally need to have a mechanical or electrical engineering degree to be considered for such a position. Chartered Engineer status is usually governed by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

Project Managers

PM's are normally also certified in other disciplines first, such as Quantity Surveying. There are a number of Project Management training courses offered by various institutions.

Quantity Surveying

Professional degree level qualifications are important in quantity surveying. Membership of RICS (the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) is for graduates who complete competence-based training and at least two years in industry.

Structural Engineering

This type of work covers such areas as structural analysis, structural mechanics, foundation and structural design and material properties. The ISE (Institute of Structural Engineers) is the professional body that works to maintain professional standards in the industry.

Architecture

Anyone who wishes to become an architect should allow for seven or more years of study and work experience to become fully qualified. On any construction project, an architect will remain a key player as their designs, ideas and plans are converted into physical structures and spaces.