Third edition of Webuild program – bridging school and work to develop future skills for infrastructure sector – kicks off in Barletta, Puglia 

Workshops on mobility, energy, water and green buildings planned, awarding best assignments with on-site experience to train tomorrow’s industry professionals

MILAN, November 25, 2025 – Webuild renews its commitment to training and community development with the third edition of “Build Up”, the program that brings trades school students closer to the world of public works. The latest edition has begun in Barletta, Puglia, the first stop of an in-person workshop tour that will involve 1,000 young people in Italian cities, especially in the south, through early 2026.

“Build Up” aims to build a bridge between schools and the job market, establishing its role as an instrument to enhance Southern Italy’s human capital. It follows the success of the first two editions: 2,300 young people involved nationwide, including more than 1,100 in Sicily and more than 350 in Calabria. Part of the school-to-work training initiative (formerly known by its Italian acronym, PCTO), it targets students in construction, environment, mechatronics, and geotechnics. At its core are thematic workshops and assignments that challenge students to design infrastructure projects for their respective communities, focusing on sustainability, innovation, and the social impact they can have. 

Activities include a total of 40 hours, providing students with the mandatory credits to graduate. These hours are split between in-person sessions with Webuild experts and work supervised by teachers trained on Webuild topics. The most outstanding teams will visit construction sites and have on-site experience. Students of the previous edition from Bronte, Sicily, and Reggio Calabria, were awarded a “Webuilder” day at the Messina–Catania high-capacity railway construction site. 

The program represents a virtuous model of collaboration between business, school, and community, providing social and professional benefits.

Webuild invests in training and employment, not only through initiatives for high school students and recent graduates, but also the broader “Cantiere Lavoro Italia” initiative, launched in 2023. To date, this initiative has trained about 1,700 workers and other employees, with the goal of enhancing human capital and creating qualified jobs. Targeting both inexperienced youth and workers to be retrained, it offers practical training and opportunities to be placed on a construction site. 

In Southern Italy, Webuild – in collaboration with construction schools (“Scuole Edili”) – has built a vast and solid network of training centres to prepare the next generation for the challenges posed by complex infrastructure projects: from construction schools in Calabria for specialised training of workers and other employees to the centre in Campania to the training workshop in Bovino, Puglia. They all serve as reference points for developing technical skills needed in the region.

In Sicily, the advanced training centre in Belpasso, inaugurated in November 2023 in collaboration with the Region of Sicily, has become a hub for training in mechanised excavation. Equipped with tunnel-boring machines (TBM) and other cutting-edge machinery, the centre offers comprehensive training thanks to experts from both inside and outside the Group.