Kier

Kier Construction is a building division of Kier Group, we provide a comprehensive service for the design and construction of new buildings, refurbishment and fit-out works, for both the public and private sectors. From our local office in Newbury, we operate throughout the Thames Valley.

From our Thames Valley office, we operate throughout the region across multiple sectors including education, commercial, industrial, health and R&D, for both public and private sector clients. We work on projects ranging in value from £1m up to £40m.

At Kier we want to share our world of construction with young people to enable them to understand the variety of exciting and rewarding careers that are available to them and to future-proof our industry by capturing exciting new talent. We are looking for the next generation of construction leaders!

Within Kier and throughout our supply chain we employ over 2.1 million people, and this number is set to increase to 2.5 million in the next few years. By engaging with the younger generations, such as the students at Maiden Erlegh Trust, we aim to attract and retain motivated, high-performing individuals from our local communities to fill some 2,000 different roles within the industry.

Our engagement with young people means we are already supporting classroom activities, summer design challenges, work experience, workshops, mock interviews and site visits for all age groups. To support our approach, we have pledged to engage with 10,000 11-16-year-olds this year to ensure their next steps into higher education are informed by the attractive opportunities our industry has to offer.

It is our hope that by learning about construction in a fun and creative environment, young people from all backgrounds will consider construction as a promising future career - with Kier as the company of choice.

 

Rapid7

Rapid7 is one of the world's fastest-growing cybersecurity software vendors, formed in New York in 2000. Today, our head office is in Boston, US, and our international operation is headquartered in Reading.

Through our innovative software, managed security services and industry-leading research, we provide oversight across organisations' digital landscapes to highlight hidden network and application vulnerabilities, risky user behaviour, asset misconfiguration, cloud service usage, IT operations issues, and more. 

From our software engineers, security practitioners and consultants, to analysts and researchers - we are the Watchers on the Wall.

Rapid7 produces the advanced analytics that allows the security, IT, and operations departments to collaborate effectively across public sector, blue-chip and enterprise organisations; analysing system risk, detecting cyberattacks, prioritising remediation, measuring the impact of their actions, and responding effectively at the moment of breach.

We are passionate about education, outreach and employee diversity. With approximately one million open roles in the cybersecurity industry worldwide, it is imperative that we enable and help to educate the next generation of cybersecurity warriors. We are extremely proud to be STEM partners with Maiden Erlegh Trust.

Thales

At Thales in the UK we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across five major industries:

    Aerospace

    Defence

    Ground Transportation

    Security

    Space

 

We are the number one global provider of air traffic management systems, equipping more than 160 air traffic control centres, covering over 40% of the world’s airspace. This eases the congestion in our crowded skies and reduces delays to flights.

 

We provide the eyes and ears for the Royal Navy; situational awareness sensors and systems, allowing fleets to safely execute missions with greater visibility of their surroundings out at sea.

 

We are currently working with Transport for London to deliver the Four Lines Modernisation (4LM) programme. 4LM is a project to upgrade the signalling systems of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, increasing the overall capacity and efficiency of the London Underground.

 

We have worked with the UK Space Agency to open the UK’s first Space Electric Propulsion Integration Centre in Belfast, making electric propulsion systems for satellites. The propulsion systems raise the satellites into orbit, after separation from the launch rocket, providing manoeuvrability to keep them on station.