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Building skills for the future
One company's external recruitment is poaching to another. Welcome to the world of construction where an acute shortage of skills means all's fair in getting brawn and brains on-site. david millar reports
IJust three regions have been identified with top prospects for new construction projects-mostly fuelled by the government's private finance initiative-over the next few years. The East Midlands is one, although the West Midlands will not lag far behind. Common to both regions is a shortage of skilled workers.
No matter that the industry is responsible for 10 per cent of the nation's GDP and worth a cracking £375bn. Given the choice between the warm and dry of the local supermarket or call centre or a building site in February, fewer school leavers see amenable futures in construction. Nor are A-level students much convinced that a degree in civil engineering or related subjects will ever gain them a pay packet to match those of their peers using arts or economics degrees to claim six-figure City salaries.
This is happening against an industry quality framework now seeking at least several GCSEs from the most junior apprentices, and looking for graduate status among site and project managers. Everyone going on building sites should now have the nous to get a safety certificate and at least one vocational qualification to their name. The industry cannot afford to take the non-achievers foisted on it in the past. Its difficulty is in persuading the better quality people it needs that it is worth checking out.
It is hard to quantify the skills shortage in terms of potential loss of business for Midlands-based construction companies. In broad terms, big companies with corporate logos plastered over motorway and other big construction schemes are not major employers of long-term staff. They sub-contract to medium and small contractors right down to the ubiquitous two or three men in a white van. However, there is a growing tendency in public sector contracts to require successful tenderers to show either the stability of established in-house site workers or close partnerships with others who have them.
Without this guarantee, contracts could go to outsiders only too happy to chase new business in a healthy area such as the East Midlands.
"The East Midlands needs to recruit more than 6,000 new people into the construction industry each year until at least 2006 to ensure the industry's growth continues at its current rate of 3 per cent per year," says Julian Humphries, Midlands area manager for the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). "More than half of small, medium and large firms in this region are already experiencing difficulties in recruiting skilled staff."
The CITB commissioned Loughborough University's civil and building engineering department to report on key issues. 'Bridging the Gap East Midlands' was published in March and followed a similar consultants' report on the West Midlands in 2001. Dr Andrew Dainty of Loughborough points out the latest report is one of the most comprehensive ever in the sector. Employers were asked directly about the difficulties they face and the report explores in great detail what can be done to avert a future skills crisis.
"We do know there is a grossly inadequate supply of labour even against the most modest of the various skills forecasts," he says. "Based on current figures there will be serious shortages across all the major trades and professional and management occupations."
The industry has coped with such shortages before. However, it is more difficult for companies simply to go from one side of the Midlands to the other to recruit more bricklayers or whoever. The Loughborough report highlights problems affecting the industry nationally. Overall numbers enrolling for construction-related training remained relatively stable from 1998-2001 but there was a 6 per cent fall in NVQ enrolments and a significant decline in enrolments for GNVQ programmes. As elsewhere, the East Midlands construction industry lacks a sense of identity and does not appear to have a long-term, pan-industry strategy for addressing future skills needs.
Bridging the Gap East Midlands says the industry must engage with teachers, parents and school children to broaden its appeal and widen the pool of potential new entrants. It also recommends high quality training and development of the current workforce, together with a flexible qualifications system that is better funded and more structured. This should recognise the expertise of the multi-skilled workers now needed.
It makes a large number of specific recommendations aimed at getting the training and skills message across to potential recruits, existing staff and small employers. Proposals for better co- ordination of construction education and training, and for the formation of an East Midlands Construction Forum, further contribute to a potential blueprint for use throughout the UK.
The earlier West Midlands report identified shortfalls in skills for particular occupations, especially carpenters, bricklayers, skilled groundworkers, site managers, and civil engineers. The problems are well-known and are addressed by both organisations such as CITB and by individual companies, predominantly those with several hundred or more directly employed staff. Government recognition came in a 2002 Green Paper proposing equal emphasis on vocational and academic GCSEs and A levels, and introducing a vocational engineering GCSE. The Construction Federation also wants to see general construction skills taught from age 14 and included in a further set of vocational GCSEs.
At the schools level, CITB is again organising a National Construction Week from 8-15 October. This features events introducing students to the industry and a national schools competition. In an effort to change construction's uncool image, last year the CITB ran a series of witty advertisements in lifestyle and ethnic magazines and on music and student websites.
A three-year pay deal in April gives an eventual total increase of 23 per cent bringing basic hourly rates to £39, with subsistence allowances rising to £325 per night and employers improving their contributions to stakeholder pensions. The starting pay rate for apprentices is to increase to £3122 per week, which at least places under-18s within a pay structure.
Gerry Lean, Construction Federation director of industrial relations, says the agreement provides security for workforces and allows companies to plan ahead. "It should be remembered that these are minimum rates of pay and it is open to employers to pay higher rates if they wish."
Some employers try hard to stabilise and train their own workforces and reach out to potential recruits. In the East Midlands, Construction Action Group of Employers (CAGE) has 26 member companies which, among other initiatives, adopt local schools where they can mentor pupils and go in to explain opportunities. Mike Shires of Baggaley Construction, a prime mover in CAGE, explains that Baggaley takes on 12-14 apprentices or trainees each year based on indicators of the company's future needs. However, he acknowledges that for many companies, human resources means acquiring three new bricklayers by a week on Monday.
Like Baggaley, North Midland Construction prides itself on a stable and mostly long-serving workforce. Trevor Kayes, director responsible for training, agrees there are a number of construction jobs, such as excavator drivers and crane operators, which are difficult to fill. "The average JCB costs £340,000 and a big excavator £370,000-80,000; a big crane is around £3120,000 and you need an operator who is skilled to drive and behave responsibly with it."
Here lies another dilemma for the industry. Companies no longer want the school dropouts who previously provided unskilled labour, but the trainees with potential to make good in construction are opting instead for IT training or service industries.
The few that persevere with industry qualifications are much in demand, and external sourcing is the only way in which some companies with a skills shortage can fill vacancies. It's not unknown, says Geoff Briscoe of Coventry University, for a gang of tradesmen to arrive on-site and spend the morning on their mobiles creating a bidding war for a better rate elsewhere after lunch.
Go-ahead companies counter this by demonstrating to trainees and younger skilled craftsmen that they can advance in a defined career structure.
Hinckley-based Galliford Try is recognised generally throughout the industry as one of the foremost investors in training. HR director Tony Welch has around £3900,000 in his direct training budget. Each of the 2,200 employees receives an average of 3.8-4 training days annually. That includes the most junior apprentice on block release and board-level management, who benefit from intensive training in real-life business problems with the Henley Centre.
Welch is concerned that some vocational courses should adapt more rapidly to an evolving industry. Just as plaster now comes ready-mixed, so roof trusses come prefabricated on bigger sites. Yet apprentice roofers must make these themselves for their NVQ. Only smaller companies dealing with refurbishment are likely to go back to such first principles.
Galliford Try has long-term relationships with smaller sub-contractors whereby apprentices are recruited by Galliford and placed with the smaller firm to gain craft skills. Pay and training is subsidised but very often within 18 months they are making a positive contribution to the sub-contract business that then employs them directly. The sky can be the limit even for 16-year-olds joining Galliford Try. Welch is just as keen on encouraging them to gain NVQs, GNVQs and go on to study either part-time or full-time at university, as he is to recruit promising graduates. It is not unknown for well qualified graduates, who went straight from school to university civil engineering or construction courses, to develop an aversion to getting their feet dirty on a building site.
Poor weather, long journeys to work and subsequent 12-hour days don't help, although the company is seeing a new type of entrant in his or her 20s and 30s retraining as a crafts person. Headlines about £380,000-a-year plumbers-a short-lived phenomenon-may be partly responsible but at least could have the benefit of making youngsters look again at construction. How many of the 60,000 school children who took part in National Construction Week in 2002 will now embrace the industry remains to be seen.
Construction prospectus
an outline of the various schemes aimed at tackling the skills shortage and making construction an attractive choice
There are a number of ways into construction training. Technical colleges run courses, Birmingham has a CITB National Construction College site, and regeneration organisations such as Focus Pathways support training for the unemployed.
CITB has £375m in training grants available in the year ending in July. Registered employers get up £36,000 over three years by taking 16-19 year-olds into apprenticeships. The region's National Construction College offers courses on every building site activity from scaffolding through crane operation to steeplejack. Management workshops cover tax compliance, environmental management and other site issues.
Dave Hughes of North Midland Building chose the graduate route into construction with a civil engineering degree from Nottingham University six years ago, later adding a master's. Many fellow graduates opted out of civil engineering completely but he does not regret joining parent company North Midland Construction.
The reality of working on-site is different, however, to what is taught. "A lot of things I was taught on the construction management side of the course are just not used in industry or they are done differently."
His fascination with construction and the built environment is shared with Joe Riches from Lincoln, currently on a gap year with NMC. He is joining a four-year construction management degree course at Northumbria University, chosen because it includes one year in industry.
"I wrote into the industry and read the magazines which all said work experience is valuable in this industry more than others. I already fancied a break from education so I could get some money and experience."
At a completely different level, Focus Pathways, the training and employment subsidiary of the Prime Focus Regeneration Group, has created 40 construction placements-each for 26 weeks-since last April for unemployed young people in north west Birmingham. Targets for this year are 24 placements in the Handsworth Area Regeneration Trust area, and a further 73 across the Birmingham region.
CITB grant support enables the youngsters to work towards recognised qualifications through day release at local colleges. The expectations are that both the trainees and the participating employers will like what they see and agree on permanent employment.
Weaver and the construction worker
Alan Adamson, joint MD at Bromsgrove-based Weaver, gives his view of the skills crisis
"The industry is still suffering from a mis-match between what we need and what the education system provides. There has to be a strategic re-think within the highest education echelons if the sector is to benefit. There is evidence that this is starting to happen, but much more needs to be done.
Our view is that although Weaver supports the construction industry apprenticeship scheme, with five young people currently working with us and another four starting in September, we are in the minority. We also work closely with schools and colleges, and our training manager has developed a construction learning package focusing on the management and technical skills involved within the industry, which has received approval by the CITB. Four local youngsters will also join us in the summer for work experience.
Construction employment still suffers from a low-skilled perception by the general public. But, as with every industry, new technology is having an impact and bright youngsters should be made more aware of the myriad opportunities available within the sector. Currently, graduates are still scarce, with applications for construction degrees on a downward slide and, with the proposed new university fee regime set to exacerbate the problem, one wonders just who will be managing the sector in 10 or 20 years' time.
Minimum hourly rates for craft workers which will rise to £39.00 per hour from 2005 and a basic first year apprentice weekly wage of £3122 mean that the future looks financially attractive from the employee's point of view. However, what should also be borne in mind is whether that cost pressure will force employers to re-think their recruitment policies yet again.
This sector is unique in that it allows craft trained personnel to rise to the top of the tree, as well as the more academically gifted who enter the industry at a higher level. With support from the CITB and higher education, the sector must promote itself to our best people and encourage continuous recruitment into the vibrant and rewarding sector that is construction. Unless the situation is addressed quickly, many projects may never see the light of day.
Weaver is a major construction group specialising in new build and refurbishment, operating principally in the Midlands but undertaking contracts throughout England and Wales.
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One company's external recruitment is poaching to another. Welcome to the world of construction where an acute shortage of skills means all's fair in getting brawn and brains on-site. david millar reports
IJust three regions have been identified with top prospects for new construction projects-mostly fuelled by the government's private finance initiative-over the next few years. The East Midlands is one, although the West Midlands will not lag far behind. Common to both regions is a shortage of skilled workers.
No matter that the industry is responsible for 10 per cent of the nation's GDP and worth a cracking £375bn. Given the choice between the warm and dry of the local supermarket or call centre or a building site in February, fewer school leavers see amenable futures in construction. Nor are A-level students much convinced that a degree in civil engineering or related subjects will ever gain them a pay packet to match those of their peers using arts or economics degrees to claim six-figure City salaries.
This is happening against an industry quality framework now seeking at least several GCSEs from the most junior apprentices, and looking for graduate status among site and project managers. Everyone going on building sites should now have the nous to get a safety certificate and at least one vocational qualification to their name. The industry cannot afford to take the non-achievers foisted on it in the past. Its difficulty is in persuading the better quality people it needs that it is worth checking out.
It is hard to quantify the skills shortage in terms of potential loss of business for Midlands-based construction companies. In broad terms, big companies with corporate logos plastered over motorway and other big construction schemes are not major employers of long-term staff. They sub-contract to medium and small contractors right down to the ubiquitous two or three men in a white van. However, there is a growing tendency in public sector contracts to require successful tenderers to show either the stability of established in-house site workers or close partnerships with others who have them.
Without this guarantee, contracts could go to outsiders only too happy to chase new business in a healthy area such as the East Midlands.
"The East Midlands needs to recruit more than 6,000 new people into the construction industry each year until at least 2006 to ensure the industry's growth continues at its current rate of 3 per cent per year," says Julian Humphries, Midlands area manager for the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). "More than half of small, medium and large firms in this region are already experiencing difficulties in recruiting skilled staff."
The CITB commissioned Loughborough University's civil and building engineering department to report on key issues. 'Bridging the Gap East Midlands' was published in March and followed a similar consultants' report on the West Midlands in 2001. Dr Andrew Dainty of Loughborough points out the latest report is one of the most comprehensive ever in the sector. Employers were asked directly about the difficulties they face and the report explores in great detail what can be done to avert a future skills crisis.
"We do know there is a grossly inadequate supply of labour even against the most modest of the various skills forecasts," he says. "Based on current figures there will be serious shortages across all the major trades and professional and management occupations."
The industry has coped with such shortages before. However, it is more difficult for companies simply to go from one side of the Midlands to the other to recruit more bricklayers or whoever. The Loughborough report highlights problems affecting the industry nationally. Overall numbers enrolling for construction-related training remained relatively stable from 1998-2001 but there was a 6 per cent fall in NVQ enrolments and a significant decline in enrolments for GNVQ programmes. As elsewhere, the East Midlands construction industry lacks a sense of identity and does not appear to have a long-term, pan-industry strategy for addressing future skills needs.
Bridging the Gap East Midlands says the industry must engage with teachers, parents and school children to broaden its appeal and widen the pool of potential new entrants. It also recommends high quality training and development of the current workforce, together with a flexible qualifications system that is better funded and more structured. This should recognise the expertise of the multi-skilled workers now needed.
It makes a large number of specific recommendations aimed at getting the training and skills message across to potential recruits, existing staff and small employers. Proposals for better co- ordination of construction education and training, and for the formation of an East Midlands Construction Forum, further contribute to a potential blueprint for use throughout the UK.
The earlier West Midlands report identified shortfalls in skills for particular occupations, especially carpenters, bricklayers, skilled groundworkers, site managers, and civil engineers. The problems are well-known and are addressed by both organisations such as CITB and by individual companies, predominantly those with several hundred or more directly employed staff. Government recognition came in a 2002 Green Paper proposing equal emphasis on vocational and academic GCSEs and A levels, and introducing a vocational engineering GCSE. The Construction Federation also wants to see general construction skills taught from age 14 and included in a further set of vocational GCSEs.
At the schools level, CITB is again organising a National Construction Week from 8-15 October. This features events introducing students to the industry and a national schools competition. In an effort to change construction's uncool image, last year the CITB ran a series of witty advertisements in lifestyle and ethnic magazines and on music and student websites.
A three-year pay deal in April gives an eventual total increase of 23 per cent bringing basic hourly rates to £39, with subsistence allowances rising to £325 per night and employers improving their contributions to stakeholder pensions. The starting pay rate for apprentices is to increase to £3122 per week, which at least places under-18s within a pay structure.
Gerry Lean, Construction Federation director of industrial relations, says the agreement provides security for workforces and allows companies to plan ahead. "It should be remembered that these are minimum rates of pay and it is open to employers to pay higher rates if they wish."
Some employers try hard to stabilise and train their own workforces and reach out to potential recruits. In the East Midlands, Construction Action Group of Employers (CAGE) has 26 member companies which, among other initiatives, adopt local schools where they can mentor pupils and go in to explain opportunities. Mike Shires of Baggaley Construction, a prime mover in CAGE, explains that Baggaley takes on 12-14 apprentices or trainees each year based on indicators of the company's future needs. However, he acknowledges that for many companies, human resources means acquiring three new bricklayers by a week on Monday.
Like Baggaley, North Midland Construction prides itself on a stable and mostly long-serving workforce. Trevor Kayes, director responsible for training, agrees there are a number of construction jobs, such as excavator drivers and crane operators, which are difficult to fill. "The average JCB costs £340,000 and a big excavator £370,000-80,000; a big crane is around £3120,000 and you need an operator who is skilled to drive and behave responsibly with it."
Here lies another dilemma for the industry. Companies no longer want the school dropouts who previously provided unskilled labour, but the trainees with potential to make good in construction are opting instead for IT training or service industries.
The few that persevere with industry qualifications are much in demand, and external sourcing is the only way in which some companies with a skills shortage can fill vacancies. It's not unknown, says Geoff Briscoe of Coventry University, for a gang of tradesmen to arrive on-site and spend the morning on their mobiles creating a bidding war for a better rate elsewhere after lunch.
Go-ahead companies counter this by demonstrating to trainees and younger skilled craftsmen that they can advance in a defined career structure.
Hinckley-based Galliford Try is recognised generally throughout the industry as one of the foremost investors in training. HR director Tony Welch has around £3900,000 in his direct training budget. Each of the 2,200 employees receives an average of 3.8-4 training days annually. That includes the most junior apprentice on block release and board-level management, who benefit from intensive training in real-life business problems with the Henley Centre.
Welch is concerned that some vocational courses should adapt more rapidly to an evolving industry. Just as plaster now comes ready-mixed, so roof trusses come prefabricated on bigger sites. Yet apprentice roofers must make these themselves for their NVQ. Only smaller companies dealing with refurbishment are likely to go back to such first principles.
Galliford Try has long-term relationships with smaller sub-contractors whereby apprentices are recruited by Galliford and placed with the smaller firm to gain craft skills. Pay and training is subsidised but very often within 18 months they are making a positive contribution to the sub-contract business that then employs them directly. The sky can be the limit even for 16-year-olds joining Galliford Try. Welch is just as keen on encouraging them to gain NVQs, GNVQs and go on to study either part-time or full-time at university, as he is to recruit promising graduates. It is not unknown for well qualified graduates, who went straight from school to university civil engineering or construction courses, to develop an aversion to getting their feet dirty on a building site.
Poor weather, long journeys to work and subsequent 12-hour days don't help, although the company is seeing a new type of entrant in his or her 20s and 30s retraining as a crafts person. Headlines about £380,000-a-year plumbers-a short-lived phenomenon-may be partly responsible but at least could have the benefit of making youngsters look again at construction. How many of the 60,000 school children who took part in National Construction Week in 2002 will now embrace the industry remains to be seen.
Construction prospectus
an outline of the various schemes aimed at tackling the skills shortage and making construction an attractive choice
There are a number of ways into construction training. Technical colleges run courses, Birmingham has a CITB National Construction College site, and regeneration organisations such as Focus Pathways support training for the unemployed.
CITB has £375m in training grants available in the year ending in July. Registered employers get up £36,000 over three years by taking 16-19 year-olds into apprenticeships. The region's National Construction College offers courses on every building site activity from scaffolding through crane operation to steeplejack. Management workshops cover tax compliance, environmental management and other site issues.
Dave Hughes of North Midland Building chose the graduate route into construction with a civil engineering degree from Nottingham University six years ago, later adding a master's. Many fellow graduates opted out of civil engineering completely but he does not regret joining parent company North Midland Construction.
The reality of working on-site is different, however, to what is taught. "A lot of things I was taught on the construction management side of the course are just not used in industry or they are done differently."
His fascination with construction and the built environment is shared with Joe Riches from Lincoln, currently on a gap year with NMC. He is joining a four-year construction management degree course at Northumbria University, chosen because it includes one year in industry.
"I wrote into the industry and read the magazines which all said work experience is valuable in this industry more than others. I already fancied a break from education so I could get some money and experience."
At a completely different level, Focus Pathways, the training and employment subsidiary of the Prime Focus Regeneration Group, has created 40 construction placements-each for 26 weeks-since last April for unemployed young people in north west Birmingham. Targets for this year are 24 placements in the Handsworth Area Regeneration Trust area, and a further 73 across the Birmingham region.
CITB grant support enables the youngsters to work towards recognised qualifications through day release at local colleges. The expectations are that both the trainees and the participating employers will like what they see and agree on permanent employment.
Weaver and the construction worker
Alan Adamson, joint MD at Bromsgrove-based Weaver, gives his view of the skills crisis
"The industry is still suffering from a mis-match between what we need and what the education system provides. There has to be a strategic re-think within the highest education echelons if the sector is to benefit. There is evidence that this is starting to happen, but much more needs to be done.
Our view is that although Weaver supports the construction industry apprenticeship scheme, with five young people currently working with us and another four starting in September, we are in the minority. We also work closely with schools and colleges, and our training manager has developed a construction learning package focusing on the management and technical skills involved within the industry, which has received approval by the CITB. Four local youngsters will also join us in the summer for work experience.
Construction employment still suffers from a low-skilled perception by the general public. But, as with every industry, new technology is having an impact and bright youngsters should be made more aware of the myriad opportunities available within the sector. Currently, graduates are still scarce, with applications for construction degrees on a downward slide and, with the proposed new university fee regime set to exacerbate the problem, one wonders just who will be managing the sector in 10 or 20 years' time.
Minimum hourly rates for craft workers which will rise to £39.00 per hour from 2005 and a basic first year apprentice weekly wage of £3122 mean that the future looks financially attractive from the employee's point of view. However, what should also be borne in mind is whether that cost pressure will force employers to re-think their recruitment policies yet again.
This sector is unique in that it allows craft trained personnel to rise to the top of the tree, as well as the more academically gifted who enter the industry at a higher level. With support from the CITB and higher education, the sector must promote itself to our best people and encourage continuous recruitment into the vibrant and rewarding sector that is construction. Unless the situation is addressed quickly, many projects may never see the light of day.
Weaver is a major construction group specialising in new build and refurbishment, operating principally in the Midlands but undertaking contracts throughout England and Wales.
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