A CONSTRUCTION company is offering people a behind-the-scenes look at its development of a college.

Willmott Dixon will be giving residents the chance to see the work under way on the extension of Brighton Metropolitan College’s Pelham Street site.

The extension is being built on the site’s former car park next to an existing tower block and will be used as a centre for creative digital industries.

Work began last summer and the £21 million scheme is predicted to be completed by early 2021.

Willmott Dixon is inviting people to see what progress has been made as part of its Open Doors project from March 16 to 21 in which it aims to “inspire a new generation to consider a career in construction”.

A spokesman said this was of added importance in the current climate, with the Construction Industry Training Board predicting last year that 168,500 construction jobs will be created in the UK in the next five years.

The report estimated 2.79 million will be employed in the construction industry by 2023.

The spokesman said: “Willmott Dixon has put construction in the spotlight on a number of occasions in the past few months.

“In November, it was the UK’s highest placed company in the FT’s inaugural list of European leaders for workplace diversity and inclusion, coming third out of 700 organisations ranked for their approach to inclusivity, ahead of household names like Ikea, Google and Tesla.

“It also won a third Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in five years, securing the accolade for sustainable development for the second time, as well as being the only contractor to feature in the top ten of the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to work for list in 2019.”

The company’s chief executive, Rick Wilmott, said he believed encouraging young people to pursue careers within the construction industry was vital at this time.

He said: “Open Doors week offers an invaluable opportunity to get people inspired about construction and enables us to show the fantastic new technology, range of roles and rewarding careers available to the next generation.”

The tours of the Brighton Metropolitan College site are a part of this vision.

The college offers a range of qualifications for people aged between 16 and 18.

It was created through the merging of City College Brighton and Northbrook College Sussex and now teaches more than 3,500 students.