Closing the skills gap

The construction business is growing at its fastest rate since 2004 and is the largest industry in Britain, employing more than two million people. The market is buoyant but there is a huge problem: there simply are not enough people with the right skills to maintain the growth of the industry.

Last week Shropshire took two major steps in the right direction. Two new centres opened in the county, specifically to train people for a construction industry which is facing a crisis, with too few specialists - from architects to carpenters - to plug the jobs gap.

Wrekin Construction opened its new, purpose-designed and -built training centre at the company’s headquarters in Shifnal, offering trainees a wider range of career options.

And Telford Construction Centre also opened its doors on Friday, giving youngsters the opportunity to train both in the classroom and in an on-site environment.

The centre, at Wrekin Construction in Lamledge Lane, was opened by Sir Michael Latham, chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board.

Sir Michael said: “This new training centre really brings home to me why I am proud to be part of the construction industry. Yes, the buildings are modern and yes, the facilities state-of-the-art, but that alone is not what will make this centre a success.

“Rather it will be the commitment of the people and partner organisations, to the industry’s goal of a fully qualified workforce.

Sir Michael said the industry needed to recruit 87,000 people every year across the country to meet the demands of construction projects.

“We will need new people, committed people, talented people. We need a home-grown workforce that helps to build not only a sustainable construction industry, but also sustainable communities.”

He added that there were organisations, including ConstructionSkills, making sure that there were educational and vocational courses available for young people wanting to make a career in construction.

“But despite well-documented skills shortages, it is still difficult for apprentices to get on-site training. This paradox is down to the structure of the modern construction industry. Short-term contracts, sub-contracting and self-employment offer flexibility in delivering construction projects, but they provide a poor business case for investment in skills.”

He said that although there were well-intentioned training initiatives, many young people were leaving the industry with no or few qualifications.

“We all have a responsbility to encourage new people into construction, and once they are there, to ensure that the incentives exist for them to stay.”

Greg Molan, principal of Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology - which built the Telford Construction Centre at Stafford Park - insisted that his students would get experience on construction sites.

“One of the things about this centre is that it is very much like a site. All our programmes are NVQ-based, and you can only do your NVQ if you are assessed on-site. These are work-based qualifications.

“When our people come out they have skills, they have theoretical skills and hands-on skills and they can deliver.

“What we have to do is start raising people beyond NVQ Level 2 to Level 3 skills because people think of construction as a simple industry, but it isn’t. It’s a very high-tech and innovative industry and we need people with the higher order skills, like project management and quantity surveying.

“Becoming a Centre for Vocational Excellence requires that you work very closely with industry. This is what a centre of excellence is supposed to be doing: taking industry with it, working very closely with the industry and developing those higher order skills.”

Pictured at the official opening of the Wrekin Construction Training Centre are (from left): Dr Simon Frain, chairman of Wrekin Construction, Sir Michael Latham, chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board, and trainee Daniel Thomas.