Our Managing Director, Alexandra Powell, was invited to speak to the new T Level students at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG), ahead of their Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction course starting this September.

With a room full of 16-year-olds about to take their first real step into the industry, the brief was simple: be honest about what that journey can actually look like.

You Don't Need It All Figured Out at 16

Alexandra's main message to the students was fairly simple: you don't need your whole future mapped out this early.

At 15, she thought she'd end up as a chef or an architect. All she knew for certain was that she loved creating. She went on to train and work as an architect, before eventually building Powell Design & Construction from the ground up. Since then, her career has grown into something far bigger than she ever planned — running the company, teaching at the University of Staffordshire, mentoring students, and even exploring how AI can shape the future of construction.

None of that was the plan when she was 16. And that's exactly the point she wanted the students to take away: careers in construction rarely follow a straight line, and staying open to opportunities matters more than having a fixed five-year plan.

Three Routes In, Three Different Stories

Alexandra wasn't the only one with a story to tell. She also shared the experiences of three members of the PDC team — John, Laura and Finlay. All of these team members found their way into the construction or design industry through a completely different route:

• John came in through an apprenticeship
• Laura joined as a university placement student
• Finlay started in a graduate role

Sharing about their three different starting points was a good reminder that there isn't a single "correct" entry route into construction — apprenticeships, degrees, placements and graduate schemes can all lead to a long-term career in the industry.

As it happened, the timing worked out nicely, as it was actually Laura's first day back with us after finishing her studies, ahead of starting her Masters degree. She came along to the talk and even joined the Q&A, sharing her own placement experience directly with the students — proof that the people best placed to talk about these pathways are often the ones who've just walked them.

Why We Keep Showing Up to These Talks

The construction industry has a well-documented skills gap, and a lot of that comes down to school and college leavers not knowing what routes are actually available to them, or assuming the industry isn't for people like them.

Sessions like this one at NSCG are a small way of closing that gap, giving students direct access to people who've actually done the apprenticeships, the placements, the degrees, and built careers off the back of them.

We hope the NSCG students found it useful ahead of starting their course this September.

Thank you again for the invite.

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