THE Rhyl Coastal Defence scheme has supported nine young people in Denbighshire to start their work experience journeys.

The work experience was arranged between Denbighshire County Council’s Llwybrau project and Balfour Beatty, the contractor undertaking the works for the Rhyl and Prestatyn Coastal Defence schemes.

The young people, from Rhyl College and Christ the Word Catholic School, were given the opportunity to gain experience working on a transformative civil engineering project on their doorstep.

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They shadowed members of Balfour Beatty’s team, both in and out of the office, as they undertook various tasks associated with the coastal defence scheme and learnt about the work and jobs involved in building a multi-million pound coastal defence scheme.

The Llwybrau project supports young people to reduce their risk  of disengagement from education and provides support to re-engage in education or to move into employment or training at the end of Year 11.

The nine students were able to go out on site with Balfour Beatty’s engineers, who showed them what a typical day working on the scheme looks like, and also how the sea defence is being built to protect their hometown from flooding.

They also had the opportunity to engage with Balfour Beatty’s apprentices and work placement students and sit with their planning, design, and commercial team, who taught them about the various roles involved in building the sea defence.

Balfour Beatty worked with the group for a four-week period, which concluded with the young people getting to take part in mock interviews to help prepare them for future job prospects.

Leland, one of the young people on the scheme, said: “I think the positives about Balfour Beatty are that what they are doing is amazing and will help Rhyl out in the long run.

“The staff are also really nice and the stuff behind how machines work and what the actual plan is for the sea defences is really interesting.”

Leon, who also took part in the work experience, added: “I liked how nice the people were and how they treat you with respect.

“I really enjoyed going out on site to see how things get done and why they do it.”