Civil engineering and construction

This page has been designed to give a starting point for those looking into careers in Civil Engineering and Construction.

What is civil engineering and construction?

The construction sector consists of the following areas: infrastructure, repair and maintenance, public and private housing, non-residential public property (e.g. hospitals and schools), industrial (e.g. factories and processing plant) and commercial construction.

The variety of work available can be divided into five main areas:

  • architecture - new builds, regeneration, conservation, commercial and redevelopment;
  • civil and structural engineering - coastal and marine, environmental, geotechnical, structural, highways, bridges, rail, tunnelling, airports/ports, transport planning, power, water, public health, risk management and project management (crosses all sectors);
  • construction and building services - construction management, design and build, facilities management and building services management;
  • engineering construction - air, power, water, oil, gas and nuclear facilities, chemical process plants and infrastructure;
  • surveying - building surveying, land surveying, quantity surveying, rural practice and hydrographic surveying.

Most employers are interested in students that have obtained relevant work experience, either through a placement or summer vacation work. Your career path is likely to be varied and may well change as you begin to specialise.

How do I get into it?

Each profession has its own academic requirements. Consult the Prospects website or the professional body for your profession for more information. Most are interested in students that have obtained relevant work experience, either through a placement or summer vacation work.

After a relevant first degree postgraduate study is not usually required unless you wish to specialise further. Each profession will have its own scheme leading to professional status.

There are a number of routes into the construction industry and many different occupations to choose between. The three main routes are craft, technical and graduate. Visit the Construction Skills website for full details of the routes into construction.

According to the Construction Skills council: "To be successful in today's employment market, you must take responsibility for continually improving your skills and understanding. You need to continue learning throughout your working life. You must also achieve relevant industry certification proving your competence.

The dynamic nature of the construction industry means that training and development opportunities are regularly available. Find out how you could improve your skills and expertise.

In Brighton & Hove there are around 1,000 construction-related businesses, employing 3,700 workers.  As these figures show, over 90% are micro businesses employing between 1 and 10 people. 

Local employment in construction grew by 217% during the period 2000 - 2010. Despite this increase, construction still only accounts for 2.7% of local jobs, which is relatively small in comparison to the national figure of 4.9%

Finding a job or employer in this sector

  • Argent Recruitment
    Argent Consultants are specialists in Construction Consultancy sector jobs throughout the UK.
  • ARRK Technical Services
    Recruit for the civil engineering sector.
  • Building Services online
    The web edition of Modern Building Services (MBS) journal.
  • The Career Engineer
    This is a specialist Engineering recruitment jobsite with many different opportunities.
  • CareerStructure.com
    CareerStructure.com is a website that brings you thousands of building and civil engineering jobs UK wide, including a dedicated Graduate zone with careers advice.
  • Careers in Construction
  • ConstructionRecruitment.com
    A niche job board for the construction industry, which puts job seekers in direct contact with construction employers.
  • Constructor.co.uk
    Features structural and civil engineering jobs. You can apply direct to recruiters via the contact details provided.
  • Go 4 construction jobs
    This is a relatively new global recruitment website for the construction and engineering industry. Job profiles can be viewed in any of the 10 languages supported by the site ­ Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish
  • Gradcracker
    Dedicated to graduate engineer recruitment.
  • The Institution of Structural Engineers
    The world's leading professional body for qualifications and standards in structural engineering.
  • Jobs in surveying
  • Justconstruction.net
    Construction job advertisement website
  • Matchtech
    Technical Recruitment Agency for IT, Engineering and Science
  • New Civil Engineer
  • RICS Recruit
    This site is designed to enable recruiters and jobseekers alike to find a relevant qualified employee or industry employer.
  • Rise Technical Recruitment
    National vacancy board with information and personalised support for jobseekers.
  • TechXtra
    Articles, websites, books, latest industry news, job announcements, e-journals, e-prints, technical reports, the latest research, theses and dissertations and more in Engineering, Maths and Computing.
  • Total Jobs
    This jobs board website contains a comprehensive Construction jobs section.
  • Totally Engineering
  • WorkUB
    Employment and professional partnership opportunities worldwide.

Further Information and useful links

Key points

  • The construction sector includes a variety of areas from infrastructure and repair to industrial and commercial.
  • Most employers are interested in students that have obtained relevant work experience.
  • Your career path is likely to be varied.

Resources

Case studies