Webuild opens construction trade school

Italian construction giant Webuild has launched a trade school initiative to help tackle the construction sectors skills shortage and help provide opportunities for both young and unemployed people in Italy.    

The Scuola di Mestieri aims to train a new generation of technicians and to prepare them for positions working on the country’s upcoming infrastructure projects.

The school is already accepting applications for enrollment on two pilot programmes. Young people who have completed their formal/secondary school education, and those who are unemployed and looking to retrain and start a new career in the construction are eligible for places. 

Scuola di Mestieri will provide a ‘classroom-based’ professional training programme and four to six months of on the job training working at Webuild’s construction sites. 

The training programme will also seek to standardize skills in order to improve both onsite safety and the quality of works on construction sites.

As well as being able to “work alongside experienced personnel on construction sites”, trainee technicians will also be mentored by senior Webuild staff and their learning will be completed with the use of simulators to “guarantee maximum safety conditions”. 

According to Webuild, this will allow skilled workers to start on projects under the Italian government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) as early as 2022.

Scuola di Mestieri aims to “prepare them for steady jobs that are to become available, offering the opportunity of a career, whether it be for young people or the unemployed in Italy,” said the company.

Pietro Salini, Chief Executive of Webuild, said, “The school will guarantee specific training for new resources and positions inside the Webuild Group, offering the security of a stable job and clear prospects for a career.

“To do the projects foreseen under the PNRR, 26,000 specialised workers are needed. And to fill these jobs autonomously and safely, there is no room for improvisation in our sector.”

Scuola di Mestieri is being run as part of Webuild’s more expansive Next-Gen initiative, which aims to contribute to youth training and job creation in the infrastructure sector both in Italy and elsewhere.

Salini said, “As leader of the sector, we at Webuild feel the responsibility to contribute to breaching the gap in collaboration with all the players in the system who want to work towards this objective with us, by offering stable and long-lasting job opportunities to young people and those who are unemployed who want to join us in this challenge, learning a new trade and doing it in complete safety.”

The company’s Next-Gen developments already includes collaboration programmes with 18 universities in Italy and abroad, and offers bursaries for women learning STEM skills, as well as research and innovation initiatives such as the UniWeLab at the University of Genoa.