STUDENTS from Heart of Worcestershire College swapped the classroom for a construction site to help out with the extension and refurbishment of the Sainsbury’s store in Redditch.

Four students, who are studying construction diplomas in brickwork, site carpentry and plastering at the college’s construction centre at Fishing Line Road - next door to Sainsbury’s Redditch store - were invited to site to gain valuable work experience while improvement work was going on.

The partnership came about after the college approached Base Build, the contractor working on the Sainsbury’s Redditch store, who then offered the full-time students 30 hours of practical work experience.

Student Brett Jones said: "Classroom education is really important but nothing beats practical work experience. Base Build has made sure that we get the most out of our placement and has given us the chance to work in areas relevant to our trades. It’s great working with experienced construction teams, managers and operatives which is helping us all see how our college learning works in the real world.”

In addition to mentoring students on-site, Base Build will also be going into the Heart of Worcestershire College to deliver a talk on how to get into the construction industry and will be donating unused building products from the Sainsbury’s site in an effort to reduce waste.