Two hundred and forty year 9 and 10 students from schools in Richmond and Kingston took part in a two-day event at Bushy Park this week on 9 and 10 October. Bushy SPark, organised as part of National Construction Week (8 -12 October), was designed by teachers, local business people, and experts from The Royal Parks and Historic Royal Palaces. The event enabled students to learn about the key issues surrounding park management and development projects, sustainability, and careers in the construction industry.

Bushy SPark featured a range of activities based on the Bushy Park Restoration Project, including construction of the new visitor centre, landscaping of the park, environmental and ecology issues, and marketing. Students took part in tasks such designing and building an entrance to the new visitor centre from sustainable materials and designing a walking trail for people with visual impairment.

Experts from The Royal Parks, Historic Royal Palaces, and the world of construction and the built environment, including landscape architects, and sustainability and marketing specialists, were on hand to give the students advice and guidance.

Schools taking part included: Waldegrave School for Girls, Whitton School and Orleans Park School in Twickenham, Tolworth Girls School in Surbiton, Grey Court School in Ham, Teddington School and Christ's School in Richmond.

Bushy SPark was organised by The Royal Parks, Historic Royal Palaces, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and Construction Skills, the sector skills council for the construction industry.

Geraldine Craig, Construction Education Advisor for ConstructionSkills comments: "The Bushy SPark event gives the students a real insight into the range of careers in the construction industry. It also demonstrates how these roles might fit into real life projects such as the restoration of Bushy Park."

"These students are the people who may be responsible for designing our future and days like today are all about encouraging these young people to be inspired to join the industry".

Hannah Pritchard, Education and Community Engagement Officer at The Royal Parks said: "This combination of practical skills, hands-on activities, and expert advice, is a great way to involve local young people with the Bushy Park Restoration Project and raise awareness of park management and development issues."

The Bushy Park Restoration Project will include the construction of a sustainable visitor centre, restoration of the Diana Fountain and water gardens, and development of the Park's conservation programme.

For more information about careers in the construction industry visit www.bconstructive.co.uk/homepage.asp

Issued on behalf of ConstructionSkills by Trimedia Harrison Cowley.

For further information, media should contact Amy Lambert or Leon Cox on 020 7404 6777 or email amy.lambert@trimediahc.com

About NCW

National Construction Week aims to highlight to young people the range of career opportunities available to them in the construction industry, where no fewer than 87,000 people, from carpenters to surveyors, are needed every year to meet new demand and replace those retiring. To find out more about the events going on in your area visit www.ncw.org.uk.

NCW is an industry-wide awareness week and is not organised by any one company or organisation. ConstructionSkills provides a co-ordination function for NCW, which includes creating the web site and supplying the tools needed to help companies and schools organise and run their own events.

About ConstructionSkills

ConstructionSkills is the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry. It is UK-wide and represents the whole industry from professional consultancies to major contractors and SMEs. Established as a Sector Skills Council in 2003, ConstructionSkills is working to deliver a safe, professional and fully qualified construction workforce.

ConstructionSkills is a partnership between CIC, CITB NI and CITB-ConstructionSkills. All three partners are committed to working together to deliver industry-led skills and training solutions through the Sector Skills Agreement for construction. We work to negotiate the best partnership and funding deals for the construction industry to help raise standards and we develop the skills products and services employers need.

The construction sector is central to the UK economy, generating almost 9% of UK GDP and with a turnover of more than £203bn a year. It employs 2.5 million people and requires a further 87,600 new entrants per year to 2011, as forecast by our Construction Skills Network.

About The Royal Parks

Bushy Park is one of eight Royal Parks. The other Royal Parks are The Green Park, Greenwich Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, Richmond Park and St James's Park.

The Royal Parks is an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and was established in 1993.

About Historic Royal Palaces

Historic Royal Palaces is the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace. We help everyone explore the story of how monarchs and people have shaped society, in some of the greatest palaces ever built.

We receive no funding from the Government or the Crown, so we depend on the support of our visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. These palaces are owned by The Queen on behalf of the nation, and we manage them for the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

We believe in four principles. Guardianship: giving these palaces a future as long and valuable as their past. Discovery: encouraging people to make links with their own lives and today's world. Showmanship: doing everything with panache. Independence: having our own point of view and finding new ways to do our work.

For further information about Historic Royal Palaces visit our website www.hrp.org.uk Or contact Vikki Wood, PR Manager, on vikki.wood@hrp.org.uk or telephone 020 3166 6166