Paradise welcomes students for Future Skills Unlocked
For the third year running, Paradise Birmingham has welcomed more than 60 Year 9 students to the estate for an interactive skills and careers day as part of the Paradise Future Skills Unlocked programme.
The day is the flagship event in a year-round programme for local secondary school students that has already included a work experience day and a female empowerment event at Paradise earlier in the year, as well as Q&A career sessions held at the schools themselves.
Workshops were hosted by several of the estate’s office and leisure occupiers, with this year’s Paradise Future Skills Unlocked event the largest collaborative event to date between Paradise, its occupiers, and the schools. This included Aston Manor Academy, Bordesley Green Girls School, King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy and Tile Cross Academy.
The year-round programme, which engages with local students as they begin to think about their future career choices, exposes them to the world of work and the modern workplace. With an expanded programme, the students and occupiers alike involved in the workshops on the day both enjoyed a wide range of activities.
The day included a range of structured visits to different parts of the estate hosted by Paradise occupiers AtkinsRéalis, CBRE, Dains, DLA Piper and F1® Arcade for interactive workshops, plus an orienteering challenge across the estate and Speed Networking with a wider selection of individuals from across the occupier mix at Paradise.
Social Value specialist, Ahead Partnership, works with Paradise to strengthen the local talent pipeline and improve diversity, inclusion and social mobility. It has worked here for the third year running to deliver expert input to the estate’s evolving and ongoing educational and community-based engagement.
Ross Fittall, Commercial Development Director at Paradise developer and asset-manager MEPC, the specialist development arm of Federated Hermes, said:
Welcoming another inspirational group of local students from schools across the city to Paradise enabled people to share their expertise and experiences with the young professionals of the future as part of our commitment to demonstrating early careers options and diverse pathways to the wide range of jobs available at a place like Paradise.
“By showing what goes on behind the scenes at a large commercial estate, we’re helping to break down barriers and promote the huge variety of different roles that are out there. Young people need to be exposed to a wide range of options to help them make informed decisions about both their future career options and their academic options as well.”
With more than 50 different occupiers and more than 6,000 people working across the estate, Paradise is well placed to help and support young people, and the Future Skills Unlocked events have allowed occupiers and their staff to contribute to the careers’ options of young people in Birmingham who may just be starting to think about their future career pathways and are looking for support, advice and ideas.
The Paradise Future Skills Unlocked day is a key part of a year-round programme all designed to engage students and produce positive outcomes.
Stephanie Burras, CEO of Ahead Partnership, said:
“Bringing students into contact with major commercial organisations, their people and the places they call their work homes, is a crucial step in opening up the world of work to young people.
Paradise is a key destination in Birmingham and the West Midlands, and the estate has again delivered an innovative and rewarding programme for the students as well as for the people who work at Paradise itself.
Paradise, the £1.2 billion regeneration of the heart of the city, is dedicated to supporting local communities across the city through a wide range of employment, educational, charitable, voluntary and social engagement initiatives.
The estate, its occupiers and partners, have already contributed more than £180 million of social and economic value locally, created thousands of new jobs and is working with the city council’s Employment Access Team (EAT) to match job opportunities with hard-to-reach groups.
The development of the estate has also promoted highly sustainable, SMART enabled and low carbon new buildings while contributing £171m of spend in the local supply chain along with the creation of 4,981 jobs for local people through the construction phases alone.
