CC Jan-Feb 2022

INDUSTRYfocus
Jobs for the old boys?
Where is the next generation of skilled construction professionals going to come from? The
Access Group has some suggestions
The Construction Industry Training
Board (CITB) announced a couple
of years ago that we are short of
about a quarter of a million construction
workers in the industry. Figures from
YouGov from about the same time said
that a mere 3% of youngsters between
the ages of 18 and 24 are looking to the
construction industry as a profession.
And at the Office of National Statistics
(ONS) they say that 20% of the
construction workforce are over the age
of 50, and that figure rises to 58% when
you add in the 29-45 age group.
These are terrifying numbers for any
profession, and if we are to meet the
demands for increased housebuilding,
upgrading our road and rail
infrastructure, and the move to a
carbon free economy with all that it
entails, we need to address this
particular issue urgently.
Okay, so the figures might be
exacerbated by the fluidity of the 165,000
workers from the EU and other migrants
whose 10% of the total workforce have
been the backbone of the industry during
the current skills shortage, but Brexit
regulations have seen this number
reduce considerably, and they also
constituted a large proportion of the
younger workforce. The end result is that
20% of the jobs available within in the
industry can't be filled because of a lack
of people with the skills to do the job.
So why are young people so disinclined
to enter the profession, and how can we
deal with that? The most widely held
belief is that the industry is slow to adapt
to modern ideas, such as employing
sustainable technologies, or engaging
with digitisation, and is still heavily
dependent on paper-based systems, and
that the work is viewed as a physically
demanding 'outside' job. We need to
change this urgently and educate and
inform both industry leaders and
potential recruits to the industry of their
responsibilities and opportunities.
The crunch falls on the leaders, though,
and if they are not up to the job they
should look outside the industry and
bring in experts and motivators from
other industries that have successfully
addressed similar problems.
INDUSTRY TARGETS
The Access Group has identified four
targets that should be in everybody's
sights if we are to reverse this
workforce shortage:
Education
Construction software
Recruitment, training, health and safety
Offsite construction
EDUCATION IS THE KEY
The industry is going through the most
exciting phases of its existence. The skills
that we need to cope with an evolving
planet and its declining resources, a
changing workforce, a move towards a
zero-carbon technology and a switch to
an electrified infrastructure demand the
latest technologies.
At the same time, we have developed
the ability to design and simulate
projects in 4D, 5D and beyond, create
stunning visualisations of buildings, and
carry the accumulated information
through to monitor and manage a
buildings performance throughout its
whole lifespan.
The construction industry is designing
and building the future for every
generation and every country - who
would not want to be a part of that?
The emphasis has to be on getting that
message across in schools, colleges
and universities. But you can probably
spot the flaw in this proposal. In an
industry heavily dominated by older
workers, and with a shortfall in boots on
the ground, the people entrusted in
getting the message across are the
ones stepping back from the building
site and passing on their outgrown
experience to the next generation.
CHANGING CONSTRUCTION
TECHNOLOGIES
If you can't get the skills - deskill the job!
That is essentially what happens when
you use offsite and modular building. It
facilitates better quality control as the
components come off the production
line and downgrades the skills of the
on-site worker to something
10
January/February 2022