At this year's Construction Industry Summit: Government and Industry in Partnership (CIS), which takes place at the Grange Hotel in London on 8 and 9 September, the CIS Steering Group has chosen to work with education partner Class Of Your Own (COYO), a social business that brings young people, industry and education together to inspire the next generation of construction professionals.

COYO’s aim is to encourage students, teachers and parents to recognise careers in Architecture, Engineering and Construction as highly skilled opportunities, and wholly relevant to future employment prospects.

COYO's innovative “Design Engineer Construct!” (DEC!) learning programme for secondary schools provides accredited qualifications at Level 1, 2 and 3. These are included on DfE performance tables with GCSE and A level equivalencies, and attract UCAS points at Level 3. The programme is cited in the UK Government’s Construction 2025 Strategy and is now supported by some of the UK's leading AEC companies, professional bodies and universities through the ground breaking 'Adopt A School' scheme, recently commended by the Government's chief construction adviser.

Alison Watson, COYO’s managing director said: 'Class Of Your Own is delighted to be working with the Summit Steering Group to highlight the work it’s doing to develop the next generation of construction professionals. It is vital to the future of the industry that we inspire and empower their teachers, supporting them as they develop genuine knowledge and new skills to pass onto their students.'

Steering group chair Andrew Link said: “The built environment is facing unprecedented challenges from climate change, sustainability and economic imperatives. For the industry and society to flourish and thrive we need innovation and collaboration across the disciplines.

He continued: “Work to attract and inspire future generations needs to begin now.  The Summit intends to use the funds raised at the event to directly engage a school which would not otherwise be aware of what great employment opportunities the built environment provides.”

The two-day Construction Industry Summit: Government and Industry in Partnership is led by the Construction Industry Council (CIC), the Strategic Forum for Construction (SfC) and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

The flagship conference and networking event is being organised by the industry, for the industry, to engage and empower stakeholders from across all sectors of the built environment to achieve and deliver the vision set out in the Industrial Strategy Construction 2025 manifesto.

Leading speakers from across all sectors will come together to participate in this two day event: to share best practice, to challenge thinking and to learn from one another.