Stacey Collins is an associate at Pinsent Masons LLP, the leading law firm that employs nearly 1,000 lawyers with offices across the world.  He works in the UK Construction and Engineering department and is based in Leeds.

In November 2007 Stacey went to an event which aimed to raise the awareness of how employers, in Leeds, could participate in the delivery of the Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment (C&BE).

From there he co-ordinated with Sally Spawforth of Leeds Chamber of Commerce and Chris Yates at the Leeds College of Building to see how best Pinsent Masons could contribute to the Diploma in C&BE delivery.

So far Stacey, with the help of Sally and Chris, has delivered three interactive workshops at Pinsent Masons' Leeds offices.  Each workshop was delivered twice, once to the Foundation and Higher levels, then once to the Advanced levels. 

The aim of the workshops was to give students an understanding of what construction law is (using a case study illustrating the practical and legal issues arising out of construction projects), of the planning permission process and of common environmental issues that effect construction projects.

Stacey says: “I facilitated two of the six sessions and they went really well.  The students seemed to enjoy coming to our offices.  During a break in the session I took them into one of our fifth floor meeting rooms that has a glass frontage overlooking the city’s skyline, which allowed me to point out some of the recent building projects in Leeds.  Hopefully holding the sessions at our offices allowed the students to see construction issues from a slightly different angle.

I was surprised by how willing the students were to participate and ask questions.  Once they got used to their surroundings they asked a number of questions about the topics, and also about wider issues like how they could use the diploma to pursue a legal career.  I also got asked how much I earned – although I tried to dodge that question!

I found the whole experience very rewarding and I know that the other facilitators from our planning and environmental teams also enjoyed meeting the students.  It was an added bonus that we received some positive publicity after the seminars, for example an article in the Yorkshire Post.”

Pinsent Masons is going to run the seminars again this year and are in the process of exploring the possibility of another session for the students where they will look at employability issues, such as interview skills and CV writing.

There are several reasons why Pinsent Masons will continue to support the Diploma in C&BE delivery in Leeds and why there are looking at getting involved in other areas of England, where they have offices.

It was clear to them, from the start, that the Diploma in C&BE was well-supported and organised with both staff from Leeds Chamber of Commerce and the Leeds College of Building showing a lot enthusiasm for making it successful. 

As the leading construction law firm in the UK, Pinsent Masons closely follows the construction market and they feel that the Diploma in C&BE is something that the construction industry is and will continue to be interested in developing. 

Also, Pinsent Masons feel that the Diploma in C&BE is a great opportunity for construction firms to get involved with and help shape the education of the future of the construction industry.

As Stacey says: “It is incredibly rewarding for the staff at Pinsent Masons to have the opportunity to work with and to help develop the students.  Contributing to the Diploma in C&BE fits in with one of our corporate responsibility targets to ‘inspire young lives’. “