Balfour Beatty has released their paper “Transforming infrastructure: Skills for the UK’s megaprojects”, which sets out how the construction industry and Government can bridge the significant skills shortage the sector is currently facing
“Transforming infrastructure: Skills for the UK’s megaprojects” discusses the delivery of the current pipeline of mega infrastructure industry projects.
With the construction and infrastructure industry rapidly scaling up for some of the most ambitious schemes in the UK’s history, a 20-25% decline is predicted in the workforce within a decade.
In its paper, Balfour Beatty outlines 11 key points and recommendations to help address this critical issue which include ensuring that the immigration system and the Apprenticeship Levy are fit for purpose, increasing productivity through offsite and modular building and improving the infrastructure industry coordination and diversity while enabling workers to move between schemes.
Dean Banks, chief executive officer of Balfour Beatty’s UK Construction Services business, said: “The serious skills shortage our industry is currently experiencing is putting the delivery of critical infrastructure schemes at risk; driving increased wage costs and project delays.
“If the industry is to attract a future workforce of engineers, construction workers and new entrants, industry and Government must increase productivity whilst simultaneously improving diversity to represent the communities in which we operate.”
Read the full “Transforming infrastructure: Skills for the UK’s megaprojects” report here.
