Civil Engineering Technician Apprenticeship

A Civil Engineering Technician provides technical support to engineers and other construction professionals in the design, development, construction, commissioning, decommissioning, operation or maintenance of the built environment and infrastructure.

Technicians will be required to have a broad skills base to work in areas which include sustainable construction, structural integrity, geotechnics, materials, tunnelling, marine and coastal engineering, water, waste management, flood management, transportation and power.

View our apprenticeship vacancies

As a Civil Engineering Technician, your work will involve and you will learn the following:

• Design – assisting in the development of technical solutions by producing design models, calculations, reports and drawings, surveying a site, using appropriate analysis and relevant codes.
• Analysis – using appropriate software systems and other data gathering tools and tests to solve technical problems.
• Project delivery – contributing to planning, managing work schedules, budgets and deadlines, and ensuring outputs comply with client and industry specifications, standards and guidance.
• Site engineering - operating quality systems and Health, Safety and Risk Management procedures and checking specified technical aspects of site activities.

If you are successful in your apprenticeship you will also achieve a Level 3 BTEC qualification in Construction and the Built Environment.

As an apprentice, you can expect to undertake work based learning with an employer who will pay you a wage. Throughout the duration of your apprenticeship, you will attend college for one day per week.

The rest of your training will take place in-house at your workplace by your employer and a qualified assessor who will visit you on-site who will complete assessments and progress reviews.

In order to complete the apprenticeship, you will undertake an End Point Assessment. It measures the knowledge, skills and behaviours each apprentice has developed and will include a project and a presentation. This part of the apprenticeship is employer-led, so it will be your employer who decides if you are ready to undertake your End Point Assessment.

More detailed information can be found on the apprenticeship standard website (new window).

Candidates will typically have at least 5 GCSEs at grade 9-4/A*-C including Maths (grade 6/B), English and Science or their equivalent. Evidence of this will need to be provided prior to starting your apprenticeship. Under exceptional circumstances, candidates who haven’t quite achieved these grades in English and/or Maths may be considered after an assessment, interview and agreement to achieve this level prior to taking their End Point Assessment (EPA).

To start an apprenticeship you will need an employer who is willing to take you on as an apprentice. If you already have an employer please contact us. If you don't have an employer already, view our current apprenticeship vacancies.

You will be required to attend a College interview prior to enrolling onto an apprenticeship.

You must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom.

On completion, you could progress to Level 4 or 5 in Civil Engineering or to a wide range of employment opportunities.

You will have satisfied the requirements for registration as an Engineering Technician by the relevant professional engineering institution in accordance with the requirements of the Engineering Council as the registration body.

Possible careers

• Civil Engineer
• Highways Lighting Engineer
• Civil Engineer Technician
• Highways Engineer

Information for Employers

Each apprenticeship needs to include 20% off-the-job training. This must amount to 20% of the apprentice’s contracted employment hours across the whole apprenticeship. Off-the-job training is learning undertaken outside of the normal day-to-day working environment and leads towards the achievement of the apprenticeship.

Off the Job Training should also be relevant to the knowledge, skills and behaviours detailed in the standard.

End Point Assessment
Each apprentice will need an End Point Assessment (EPA) at the end of their apprenticeship. It measures the skills, knowledge and behaviours each apprentice has developed. Employers will decide when the apprentice is ready to be assessed.

The EPA is a ‘project’ to include a written report on a chosen project (1400 – 1600 words), presentation of the same project to an audience of appointed registered engineers (10 -15 mins) and a structured interview (panel of engineers) on the same project (30-40mins).

An apprentice can only take this assessment once all other aspects of the apprenticeship have been completed.  An apprentice needs to be completely ready to take this assessment and the employer and assessor will decide when the time is right.  A declaration will be signed by both the employer, apprentice and assessor.  If the apprentice fails the assessment, then there will be a re-sit charge, which is generally paid by the employer.

The EPA Consists of 3 discrete assessment methods:

1. Project – project brief is issued and then apprentice produces a written report

2. Presentation – based on the project

3. Structured Interview