A collaborative construction event aimed at overcoming the industry’s growing skills shortage has been held with support from a well-known TV personality.
Foundations Live 2018, the regional construction careers event for Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, took place for the third year running at Bishop Burton College on Wednesday 10th October.
The event is a collaboration between Hobson & Porter, Bishop Burton College and national supplier Jewson, and is supported by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
This edition was the biggest yet, with in total more than 1,000 people in attendance throughout the day, including over 70 companies exhibiting and hundreds of students and industry professionals from across the region.
Headlining the exhibition, Mark Millar, from BBC One’s hit TV show DIY SOS, chaired an industry panel which unanimously called for collaboration to overcome the skills crisis in the construction industry.
The debate was held at a time when recently published ONS data published revealed that construction has fallen out of the top 10 most popular professions for 22-29 year olds, dropping from 7th to 12th in the space of six years. It is estimated by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) that more than 9,000 jobs will be available in the construction sector in the next five years in the Yorkshire and Humber region, with total growth forecast at 1.1%.
Mark shared his fears for the future of the industry, citing that hundreds of the skilled tradespeople who come forward to support the BBC show are either close to retirement or have no succession or training plans in place, meaning that many micro or SME organisations will be gone forever unless the industry pulls together to help one another solve the growing issue.
Following the panel debate, Mark said: “The game has changed in the era of management contracting. The blue-chip organisations people associate with the construction industry are often national contractors, supported by a vast supply chain of SME organisations to deliver the physical aspects of a construction project.”
Mark continued: “We’ve created a situation where the companies most in need of skills are actually those who find it most difficult to recruit, train and retain new tradespeople. For example, if I am the owner of a brickwork contractor employing less than 10 people, I’d naturally be thinking in the short-medium term, wondering where our next project is coming from and how I’m going to find time to issue invoices or price the next job. Have I got time to set aside the time, costs and resources associated with training and development in the long-term? Construction can be very hand-to-mouth and as such, long-term vision is often neglected.”
“As a sector, we owe it to each other to collaborate and safeguard the future of our great industry. Also forming panel was a group of industry professionals including Efficiency North’s Mark Scott, Hobson & Porter managing director Richard Hunter, Bishop Burton course leaders Jeremy Hara and Chris Dodsworth, and CITB representative Lynne Allison and Chris Carr, Managing Director at Carr & Carr (Builders) Ltd, representing CITB England Nation Council.
Lynne Allison, CITB Local Manager for the North, said: “SMEs make up the vast majority of our industry and that’s why CITB has got a range of funding and training opportunities available to them. These can be simple to access and can really help a small business to grow and thrive. That’s why we are happy to raise awareness through events such as Foundations Live to make sure that smaller firms in our region can take advantage of what’s on offer.”
Richard Hunter, managing director for Hobson & Porter, said: “We created the Foundations initiative to educate four distinct groups of students- primary, secondary, further education and adult re-trainers- on the wide-ranging potential careers available in construction. It’s about changing perceptions to show there are hundreds of career options, from planners and architects to landscape gardeners, not everyone in construction lays bricks on a building site.
“While schools and colleges have a big part to play in promoting careers, their advisors can’t possibly have an in-depth understanding of every role in every industry. If we want to raise awareness of the great opportunities construction can offer, we must paint the picture ourselves and proactively engage with learners. SME organisations in our sector must come together to tackle the skills shortage issue, and Foundations Live has provided the perfect platform for these discussions to take place.”
For more information on the Foundations initiative visit: https://www.hobsonporter.com/foundations/
