Representatives from industry and academia came together in Nottingham to discuss how the skills shortage could affect the delivery of future infrastructure projects…
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) held a breakfast meeting on 26 February to bring together industry experts and academics to examine the impact of the skill shortage on the sector.
The meeting, held at the University of Nottingham Innovation Park, looked at how the industry can tackle the shortage of skills as the government continues to push major infrastructure projects. The group also examined how the sector can utilise trainee and apprenticeship schemes to develop skilled workers, and how to assess what skills are needed.
On a national level, growth will mean some 232,000 construction jobs will be created in the UK by 2020. Around 120,000 new apprentices will be required by 2018.
Meg Hankinson, strategic partnership adviser CITB Midlands, opened the forum. She warned there was a great need for more recruitment to occur in the sector, as the East and West Midlands is expected to see a growth of one and 1.7 per cent, respectively between 2016 and 2020. While this is less than the UK rate of 2.4 per cent over the same period, skilled workers will still need to be found.
Hankinson said research from the CITB revealed that, “demand will be a mix of skilled existing workers and new entrants, employed and self-employed, but the greatest demand by percentage of employment will be in bricklaying, logistics, civil engineering.”
Stephen Fox CBE, chief executive of BAM Nuttall examined the reasons why there is a shortage of young people entering the construction industry. He drew attention to the around 1,000 civil engineering graduates that do not enter the profession despite completing their degree course.
“The industry is possibly seen as low tech and therefore not as exciting and fast moving as the technology industries that are being promoted in schools and colleges,” he said. “Construction needs to change to become more exciting and develop innovative processes and solutions to encourage our next generation of engineers.”
BAM Nuttall is currently involved in delivering an apprentice training scheme in the East Midlands, working alongside Stephenson College. This scheme means apprentices fulfil the firm’s recruitment requirements. The apprentices earn while they train and reach a qualified technician status at the end of the training period. The firm has enjoyed significant success, achieving five per cent of total new ICE membership in 2015 (10 per cent considering technicians only).
Deputy Faculty Head – Construction at Stephenson College Matthew Newman discussed the routes students could take when studying at the college. He also outlined how the college worked with BAM Nuttall to provide courses tailored to their requirements. This created a career path for the apprentice, rather than just a job.
Newman questioned how the sector could work to attract more apprentices and highlighted changes in site hoardings, which are being used more as public information boards.
“The next step on from this would be to provide information on these hoardings on how to get involved in making built environment projects reality?
“Perhaps we should include career path information, QR codes linked to training courses and apprentice case studies to stimulate interest our industry?”
The discussion turned to ensuring the careers system functions more effectively in the future by persuading more schools to be open to visits by colleges and industry.
ICE East Midlands regional director Molly McKenzie said: “Today we heard about an impending crisis which will affect the delivery of future building and infrastructure.
“Industry cannot turn its backs on the skills shortages issue and hope it will disappear, we must act now. We have a great task ahead of us in providing the infrastructure needs for a functional society and must bring educators and business together to highlight the fantastic opportunities open to young people in our industry.
“We must inspire our next generation of skilled engineers and give them the skills sets they need.”