Surrey Construction Project Management Skills Bootcamp (PRINCE2-aligned)
For Eligible Surrey Residents Aged 19+
Cohort starts week commencing 21 September 2026 · Applications close Friday 18 September 2026
Overview
PRINCE2® 7 Foundation is one of the most widely recognised project management qualifications. On this Skills Bootcamp, the training and official PeopleCert materials are covered for eligible Surrey residents aged 19 and over.
Qualification: PRINCE2® 7 Foundation
Start: Week commencing 21 September 2026
Application deadline: Friday 18 September 2026
Cost: No course fee for eligible Surrey residents.
Delivery: Online, with evening and weekend sessions.
What PRINCE2® actually is
PRINCE2® stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments. It is a structured project management method used in more than 200 countries, and it answers a question every organisation has: how do we know this project is still worth doing, still under control, and still going to deliver what we asked for?
It does that through a small number of things you learn to apply consistently — seven principles that must always hold, seven practices you address continuously, and seven processes that take a project from before it starts to after it closes. PRINCE2 7, the current version, adds two things the older editions did not have: a proper treatment of people, and sustainability built into how project performance is measured.
Principles
The guiding obligations. If they are not being applied, it is not a PRINCE2 project.
- Ensure continued business justification
- Learn from experience
- Define roles, responsibilities and relationships
- Manage by stages
- Manage by exception
- Focus on products
- Tailor to suit the project
Practices
The aspects you address continuously, from start to closure. Called "themes" in the older sixth edition.
- Business Case
- Organizing
- Plans
- Quality
- Risk
- Issues
- Progress
Processes
The step-by-step route through a project, each with its own activities, products and responsibilities.
- Starting Up a Project
- Directing a Project
- Initiating a Project
- Controlling a Stage
- Managing Product Delivery
- Managing a Stage Boundary
- Closing a Project
Foundation level is about understanding how all of that fits together and being able to contribute properly to a project run this way. It is the entry point to the PRINCE2 qualification ladder, and it is the prerequisite for Practitioner if you go on to that later.
Check Your Eligibility by filling this form
Who is it for?
Four routes onto the same qualification
Foundation has no entry requirements and no prerequisites. You do not need a project management background, a degree, or an existing certification.
Already running work
You set out the job, chase the deliveries and sort it when the programme slips — but you have nothing on paper that says so. PRINCE2® gives that the vocabulary, the documents and the recognised qualification employers screen for.
Moving into project work
Coordinating people, budgets and deadlines in operations, logistics, facilities, procurement, retail or administration is most of the job already. Foundation formalises it and makes it portable across sectors.
Returning or changing direction
Project management is desk-based, structured and recruits on method as much as on years served. Women make up around 15% of the construction workforce and about 1% of skilled trades — the project side is where that shifts fastest.
Self-employed and small firms
Larger clients and public buyers increasingly ask what method you use to control time, cost, quality and risk. PRINCE2® is an answer they recognise, and it is often the difference between being shortlisted and being screened out.
What's Included
Three things people normally pay for
PRINCE2® is a commercial certification. Most people who hold it either paid for it themselves or had an employer pay. On this bootcamp the training and the official materials are all covered by the funding.
Future Connect Training is a PeopleCert Accredited Training Organisation. That is not a marketing phrase — it means PeopleCert has assessed our curriculum, our delivery and our trainers, and it is what allows us to teach PRINCE2® on official accredited material. A course that is merely "PRINCE2-aligned" or "based on PRINCE2" is not the same thing and does not lead to the certificate.
What you will not find here is a pass guarantee. Some providers advertise one. We do not, because no training organisation can promise you an examination result, and we would rather say that plainly than sell you something we cannot stand behind. What we will do is prepare you properly and support you through it.
- 01PRINCE2® 7 Foundation training80 guided learning hours across ten modules, delivered by PeopleCert-approved trainers.
- 02Official PeopleCert materialsThe accredited course material, yours to keep and use afterwards.
- 03A worked project portfolioBusiness case, project brief, product breakdown, risk register, issue log, stage plan, highlight report and end project report — produced by you across the simulation.
- 04Guaranteed interview opportunitiesEvery learner who completes the programme is offered guaranteed interview opportunities with employers we work with.
- 05Guaranteed Job SupportCV development, role matching, interview preparation and progression planning, continuing after the course ends.
Course Duration & Delivery
Ten weeks, around your working life
Blended. The knowledge content and the self-check questions are online and can be done when it suits you. The taught sessions are where the method gets applied: worked scenarios, group planning exercises, risk and issue workshops and mock stage boundary meetings.
Sessions run in the evening and at weekends. Eighty guided learning hours across ten weeks is roughly eight hours a week. That is not nothing, and we would rather you knew it before applying than discovered it in week three.
- Apply and get screenedComplete the short form below. We call you, usually the same working day, to talk through eligibility, your background and whether this is the right course for you.
- Onboarding and diagnosticBefore you start we check your English, maths and digital confidence and agree any support you need. It is not a test you can fail.
- Method (weeks 1–6)Modules 01 to 07. Principles, people, the seven practices and the seven processes, blended between online study and taught sessions.
- Application (weeks 7–8)Tailoring and management products, then the simulation. You run a project end to end and build your portfolio from it.
- Outcome support (weeks 9–10)CV work, interview preparation and your progression plan. Support continues after the course ends.
Career Progression
Where PRINCE2® takes you
Foundation is a realistic step into project support and coordination roles, and a recognised credential to put behind experience you already have. It is designed as a step, not a leap.
- Project Coordinator
- Project Administrator
- Assistant Project Manager
- Project Support Officer
- PMO Analyst
- Document Controller
- Project Controls Support
- Assistant Site Manager
- Site Supervisor
- Assistant Contracts Manager
A recognised credential
PRINCE2® Foundation is a qualification employers screen for by name. Combined with guaranteed interview opportunities and Guaranteed Job Support that continues after the course, it gives you something concrete to apply with.
Progression where you are
Promotion, formal project responsibilities, project controls duties or a place on a project team. If your employer is willing to put you forward, tell us on the call — it is often the fastest route.
PRINCE2® Practitioner
Foundation is the prerequisite for Practitioner, which moves from understanding the method to applying and tailoring it to real scenarios. We will talk you through that route in module 10.
Eligibility & Selection
Who can apply
Skills Bootcamps are funded by the Department for Education and commissioned locally by Surrey County Council. The funding covers the full cost of your place, which is why there is nothing to pay and nothing to repay. It is not a loan.
To take a funded place you need to:
- be aged 19 or over on the day the course starts
- live in Surrey
- have the right to live and work in the UK
- not have started another Skills Bootcamp in this funding year
Living just outside Surrey? Skills Bootcamp funding follows your home address, so if you live in Greater London, West Sussex, Hampshire or Kent you cannot take a Surrey-funded place — even if you work in Surrey. Get in touch anyway and we will point you towards equivalent provision in your own area.
No prior qualifications are needed for PRINCE2® Foundation itself. There are no entry requirements at Foundation level.
How we choose
We will be straight with you: not everyone who is eligible will be offered a place. There are 20, and we screen in five stages before offering one.
- EligibilityResidency, age, right to work, and whether you have already used a Skills Bootcamp place this year.
- Baseline skillsEnglish, numeracy and digital confidence — enough to work with documents and structured written material. We are checking what support you need, not looking for reasons to say no.
- CommitmentWhether you can realistically give eight hours a week for ten weeks, attend the taught sessions.
- AptitudeA short scenario task: prioritise some risks, update a plan, explain a change. No prior project knowledge needed — we are looking at how you think, not what you already know.
- Outcome readinessWhether you are available for interviews, what roles you are realistically aiming at, and what support you would need to get there.
If we say no this time, we will tell you why, put you on the reserve list for a future cohort if you want, and point you at provision that suits you better right now.
About Future Connect Training
Future Connect Training and Recruitment Ltd has delivered adult skills training in the UK since 2014, with centres in London, Birmingham and Manchester and delivery in Surrey. We work across accountancy, digital, data, IT and project management provision, funded through local authorities, combined authorities and national programmes.
For this bootcamp the credential that matters is our PeopleCert Accredited Training Organisation status. It is what allows us to deliver PRINCE2® on official material with approved trainers.
We are also Matrix Standard accredited for information, advice and guidance, hold Cyber Essentials certification, and are Feefo Gold rated for service.
PeopleCert ATO
Accredited Training Organisation for PRINCE2®.
UKPRN 10080838
Future Connect Training and Recruitment Ltd, company number 08851253, incorporated 20 January 2014.
Surrey County Council
Delivered under the Department for Education Skills Bootcamps programme, commissioned by Surrey County Council.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions everyone asks
Is it actually free, or is there a catch?
It is genuinely free if you are eligible. No course fee, no registration fee and nothing to repay. It is not a loan and it is not deferred. The Department for Education funds Skills Bootcamps and Surrey County Council commissions them locally; the funding pays us directly for delivering your place and supporting your outcome. The catch, if you want to call it one, is that the eligibility criteria are real and we screen properly.
Is this the real PRINCE2® certificate, or a lookalike?
It is the real one. Future Connect Training is a PeopleCert Accredited Training Organisation, which means PeopleCert has assessed our curriculum, delivery and trainers, and we teach from official accredited material. You receive the standard PRINCE2® 7 Foundation certificate, issued by PeopleCert, identical to one obtained anywhere else.
Be careful elsewhere: courses described as "PRINCE2-aligned", "based on PRINCE2" or "PRINCE2-style" are not accredited and do not lead to the certificate. You can verify our accreditation on the PeopleCert ATO directory using Partner ID [[PARTNER_ID]].
Do I need any prior qualifications or project experience?
No. PRINCE2® Foundation has no entry requirements. Plenty of our learners have never worked on a formally managed project — they have simply been the person who kept work on track without a method behind them. The first two modules start from what a project is, so nobody is assumed to know anything going in.
What is the difference between PRINCE2 6 and PRINCE2 7?
PRINCE2 7 is the current version and the one you will be certified in. The most visible changes are that the seven "themes" are now called "practices", one of them changed from Change to Issues, and the pass mark moved to 60%. More substantially, PRINCE2 7 adds a proper People element covering stakeholders, communication, teams and change adoption, integrates sustainability into how project performance is measured, and includes digital and data management.
If you find revision material that talks about "themes" or a 55% pass mark, it is written for the older edition and will mislead you. Everything we teach and every mock paper we use is PRINCE2 7.
Foundation or Practitioner — which is this?
This bootcamp certifies you at Foundation level. Foundation is about understanding the method and being able to contribute to a project run with it. Practitioner is the next level and moves to applying and tailoring the method to a scenario, with a longer open-book examination.
Foundation is the prerequisite for Practitioner, so this is the right starting point either way. We will talk you through the Practitioner route in module 10 if you want to continue.
Can I do this while working full time?
Yes — most of our learners do. Taught sessions run in the evening and at weekends, and the online elements can be completed when it suits you. Eighty guided learning hours across ten weeks works out at roughly eight hours a week, including your own revision.
Do you guarantee I will pass the exam?
No. Some providers advertise a pass guarantee. We do not, because no organisation can promise you an examination result and we are not going to imply otherwise. What we do is prepare you on official material with approved trainers, drill the question formats, and run timed mocks so that nothing on the day is a surprise.
Do you guarantee me a job at the end?
No, and be cautious of anyone who says they do. What we guarantee is interview opportunities with employers on completion, plus Guaranteed Job Support — CV development, role matching, interview preparation and progression planning that continues after the course finishes. If you are already employed, we work with you and your employer on progression in your current role, which is often the faster route.
Is PRINCE2® only useful in construction?
No. PRINCE2® is sector-neutral and used across government, IT, financial services, manufacturing, telecoms, engineering and construction. The certificate you receive is the standard one and carries the same weight everywhere.
Because this bootcamp is commissioned by Surrey County Council under a construction-focused funding phase, the worked examples, the simulation project and the employer input are drawn from construction and the built environment. That is the context we teach the method through — it is not a limit on where you can use it afterwards.
What happens after I submit the form?
We will call you, usually within one working day and often the same day. That call covers eligibility, your background, what you are aiming at and any questions you have. If it looks like a fit, we move you into the rest of the screening. If it does not, we will tell you straight away rather than leaving you waiting.
What if I need extra support to take part?
Tell us on the call. We are Matrix Standard accredited for advice and guidance, and we arrange reasonable adjustments, additional learning support and digital support as a matter of routine. PeopleCert also offers examination adjustments in defined circumstances, which we can talk you through. Raising it early means it is in place before you start.
I applied too late — is there another cohort?
Applications close on Friday 18 September 2026, because we need time to screen, enrol and register everyone before the start date. If you miss it, ask to go on the reserve list. We will contact you first if a place comes free, and first again if further cohorts are commissioned.