Introduction to Civil Construction

A hands-on training course helping people gain the skills and confidence they need to take on the civil construction industry.

The course is run out of a training centre in Cambridge designed to look and feel exactly like a real work site. The centre has a Portacom and shipping containers for lessons and briefings, and a yard packed with a wide array of civil construction equipment. We’ve tried to make it as lifelike as possible.

Participants learn key skills and obtain core civil construction accreditation and licenses including Wheels, Tracks and Rollers, Workplace First Aid, ConstructSafe and forklift driver license endorsement.

Participants also learn about pre-start checks, stockpiling materials, digging trenches, surveying and boxing up footpaths, as well as JSAs, incident and accident reporting, toolbox meetings and the induction process. The course is 90-95% practical with�?participants going straight onto the machines after they are inducted and have had their safety briefings. It’s hands-on practical training, not just sitting in a classroom.

Looking after the gear is all part of the learning. We help course participants as much as we can with industry skills, and there’s also some life skills being learnt too.

Why this course

There’s been a shortage of workers in civil construction for 10 years and that has only got worse due to COVID-19. We have seen quite a few people lose work because of COVID and it has also forced many employers to develop people locally because they can’t bring them in from overseas.

The opportunities within the civil construction industry are phenomenal. You don’t have to be a machine operator… in civil there are five, six, seven, eight, nine different things you can get into. There are opportunities extending far out in front of you and the world is your oyster.

Duration

Each intake takes three weeks to complete, with participants attending from 8am until 4pm, Monday to Friday.

About your trainer

Kris has been in the civil construction industry for 24 years – the past eight years as a trainer, as well as an operator. He says many other New Zealand courses are less hands on, while others are broader in their focus and do not adequately address the specific needs of the civil construction industry.