Category Archives: News

World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development is celebrated on 4th March every year as a UNESCO international day of celebration of engineers and engineering. 

The day offers an opportunity to highlight engineers and engineering’s achievements in our modern world and improve public understanding of how engineering and technology are central to modern life and for sustainable development.  

The celebration of World Engineering Day is also about promoting engineering as a career and how it is an opportunity to change the world for better. 

“Engineers aren’t very good at articulating the value of engineering and the impact that engineers and engineering have on society. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk about these aspects and engage the community in the work of engineers”, said Dr. Marlene Kanga, the Past President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations. 

World Engineering Day 2021

This year, the World Engineering Day (WED2021), with the theme “Engineering for A Healthy Planet – Celebrating the UNESCO Engineering Report”, will focus on celebrating the launch of the 2nd UNESCO Engineering Report “Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals”. 

The report, officially published on 4th March, highlights the crucial role of engineering in delivering the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, shows how inclusive and gender equitable engineering profession can bring about new perspectives and thus respond to the shortage of engineers, showcases of engineering innovations for implementation of the SDGs, analyses the progresses in and challenges in engineering education and capacity building, and summarizes the regional trends of engineering development. Finally, it gives recommendations for developing engineering for the SDGs, and calls for global cooperation with multiple stakeholders to promote development of engineering for the SDGs.   

Building a sustainable future at JCA

At JCA, we are building a positive sustainable business that contributes towards our community by creating environmental and social value, as well as contributing to the broader societies in which we work.

Energy efficiency

We are deeply involved in ensuring that sustainability is embedded in everything we do. We develop programmes to ensure our business, employees and supply chain are sustainably competent and are committed to ensure we meet and exceed legal and ethical requirements. Our teams are driven to continually improve sustainable performance through control / improvement programmes.

We believe in incorporating energy efficient technology into all our projects and can help decide what options will make a building sustainable, both environmentally and economically. We design and build with sustainability in mind, and create award-winning projects that are not only sustainable but also enhance the wellbeing of the people who work in them.

Technical talent

Engineering is an exciting, varied and rewarding career however there is a shortage of younger people applying for engineering courses and engineering jobs in the UK. One of the prime reasons for this is that many young people are unsure what engineering is and what engineers do. The growing skills gap in the engineering industry is a worry. 

In the February 2020 issue of the Facilities Management Journal, JCA discussed how we found, trained and motivated our staff to ensure continuation of services in the years to come. Offering an apprenticeship is only one of the ways to help fill the skills gaps, upskill and revitalise the workforce to ensure the business is future proof and future ready. Another issue is the continuing gender disparity in engineering. At JCA, we are working hard at supporting women in varied roles, including engineering, throughout the business. 

You may want to read:

• “Continuous service” – FMJ November 2020
• Third RoSPA Gold for JCA 
• New ICU facility at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
• Technical talent – FMJ, February 2020 
• First place for KAO Data Campus

This year’s theme for the National Apprenticeship Week, taking place 8-14th February, is ‘Build the Future’. The campaign celebrates the diversity of opportunity and value that apprenticeships bring and how they can help individuals and employers build their future.

Train, retain and achieve

Becoming an apprentice allows young people to increase their confidence, skills, knowledge and start them off to some incredible careers, but from a business perspective, there are just as many benefits to employing an apprentice.

The growing skills gap in the engineering industry is a worry. In the February 2020 issue of the Facilities Management Journal, JCA discussed how we found, trained and motivated our staff to ensure continuation of services in the years to come. Offering an apprenticeship helps fill the skills gaps, upskill and revitalise the workforce to ensure the business is future proof and future ready.

Build the future

At JCA we are passionate about what we do and the diversity of our people. We support apprenticeships as they assist our talent strategy and allow us to recruit, retain and develop those who want to progress their careers and be equipped with skills for life. We ensure that both the educational and work activities are planned well in advance for our apprentices, so that joining us is a great experience.   

Introducing apprentices to all areas of the business and ensuring that all expectations are achieved are vital in the first few months to continue with the development of our new employees. It is a momentous journey and a great opportunity so we heavily invest our time and resources to create the best possible outcomes for our apprentices. 

Meet our apprentice

To celebrate this year’s National Apprenticeships Week, we caught up with Sebastian Jordan, our Building Services Apprentice to find out why he decided to start an apprenticeship and how he’s been enjoying it so far.  

Seb works as an engineering apprentice at a resident maintenance site, a large clinical laboratory in Cambridgeshire. 

What made you want to start an apprenticeship in the first place? 

I wanted to gain experience not only in a classroom setting, but also through training at work and working on tasks in real life. This helps because through the work itself, rather than in lectures, I wanted to get a wider understanding of maintenance engineering and first-hand. 

And why did you decide to choose JCA?  

I chose JCA because I was given the opportunity to speak with two JCA employees at a college apprenticeship fair. This helped me to get an insight into what engineering maintenance was about. I was really interested after talking to them and was encouraged to apply for the job. I decided the position was right for me after studying JCA more, as I was interested in what JCA does and the kind of services they provide.  

What was JCA’s communication like prior to you starting your apprenticeship? 

Prior to starting the apprenticeship, I had strong communication with the HR team and my line manager, I was kept updated and was warmly welcomed. JCA ensured that I felt prepared and that I knew what I would have to do to start working. 

This year is unlike any others. What does the structure of your college learning look like at the moment?  

Our learning is delivered online by our teachers due to the current pandemic. They will talk to us through units and present PowerPoints with the information necessary for assignments to be completed. Each assignment has questions of knowledge that need to be answered before signed off. This ensures that you have a good understanding of a unit before you move on to the next one. When the college starts back up, we will have the ability to complete our practical units using different machines, such as mills, lathes, grinders, welders. 

How did you enjoy the experience on-site before starting the college course? 

Before starting college, being on-site helped me to get a head start and learn procedures and how things work. This was aided by building good relationships with my peers that encouraged me to work well with them and develop a lot of practical skills. As I had the mindset to learn more, it also made sure I was well prepared and organised to start college. 

If you are interested in becoming an engineering apprentice or would like more information on the apprenticeships scheme, get in touch with us – careers@jca.co.uk 

For current vacancies and opportunities, including apprenticeships, please visit our Careers page. 

For more information about JCA and our services, head over to Our services section. 

To find out more about apprenticeships, visit the government’s website – Apprenticeships. 

At JCA we are building a positive, sustainable business that contributes towards our community by creating environmental and social value, as well as contributing to the broader societies in which we work. 

Each year, our employees select two charities to support throughout the year through direct fundraising activities and collections organised internally. One of these is usually local to our head office in Stevenage and the other with a national reach.

In January 2020, our staff voted to offer fundraising to Mind UK, a national organisation providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, and Happy Days Children’s Charity, based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, providing day trips and short breaks to some of the most vulnerable families affected by mental and physical disabilities, life limiting conditions and others. A few months later, it was clear that 2020 would be a very different year in terms of direct fundraising activities. 

According to research, the devastating financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic has left two in five charities and community groups in a worsening financial situation with one in 10 charities worried they may be forced to close within a year. A recent survey carried out by Nottingham Trent University, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and Sheffield Hallam University, also found that more than half (56 %) of organisations surveyed were expecting demand for services to surge as the impact of local lockdowns and rising unemployment filters down to communities. 

With this in mind, instead of choosing new charitable organisations to support in 2021, we have decided to continue to offer our direct internal fundraising support to Mind UK and Happy Days Children’s Charity and do our best to help in any way we can with a newly designed virtual fundraising plan for 2021.

To find out more about the state of the charities and voluntary sector during Covid-19, download a copy of the “Respond, recover, reset: the voluntary sector and COVID-19″ November 2020, a report prepared by Nottingham Trent University, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and Sheffield Hallam University. 

To find out more about Happy Days Children’s Charity and Mind UK, we encourage you to visit their websites for more information about their work.