What's involved?

Concrete flooring operatives are mainly involved in laying concrete floors or fine concrete screed, which can incorporate chemicals or synthetic resins to provide a tough and durable sealed surface.

Skills required

The job is physically demanding so you need to be reasonably fit, as well as being practical and good with your hands so you can operate the specialist machinery.

You need to be co-operative and team-orientated and have good numeracy skills as you will be calculating surface areas and volumes. You also need to be able to read plans, diagrams and information sheets.

Some time may be taken up travelling between different work sites and projects, so a driving licence may be useful.

Qualifications required

There are no formal requirements although Standard Grades in Maths and English may be helpful for the calculations, measurements and theory.

Progression routes

If you decide to progress into supervisory, design or management roles there are opportunities to study for:

• Technical, supervisory and  management SVQ qualifications (SCQF Levels 6 to11)
• HNC Construction or a number of other built environment HNC/HND qualifications (SCQF Levels 7 or 8)
• Degree level qualifications in a number of construction disciplines (SCQF Levels 9 to 12)

More information is available from Association of Concrete Industrial Flooring Contractors at: www.acifc.org/index.asp