EIGHT young people from Worcestershire took part in a visit to one of the world’s most sustainable corporate workplaces. They were members of the Future Enterprise Board of construction giants Thomas Vale and were invited to the headquarters of Vale's parent company Bouygues Construction just outside Paris.

In 2008, Bouygues began an ambitious renovation of its Challenger headquarters with the aim of enhancing the facilities’ performance in energy and environmental performance while the same time upgrade the working environment for its 3200 staff based there. In the process it has become the first building in the world to obtain three high level efficiency certificates.

As well as visiting Challenger, the FEB team - which is Vale's junior board made up of 12 self-nominated youngsters from across the business - were also invited to presentations on research and development and a tour of the Paris Philharmonia, the philharmonic hall which will be one of the first projects to be completed in the Grand Paris urban renewal plan.

Gavin Rana, co-chair of the FEB, said: “Integration and engagement of young people in international affairs is critical to the long-term development of skills and industry retention. As a board, this visit demonstrates how important it is that young people are involved in recognising global innovation. The support from both our own chairman at Thomas Vale, Tony Hyde, and our Bouygues UK chairman, Madani Sow, reaffirms their commitment to young people being the future of our industry."