CC Jan-Feb 2022

COMMENT
Editor:
David Chadwick
(cad.user@btc.co.uk)
News Editor:
Mark Lyward
(mark.lyward@btc.co.uk)
Advertising Sales:
Josh Boulton
(josh.boulton@btc.co.uk)
Production Manager:
Abby Penn
(abby.penn@btc.co.uk)
Design/Layout:
Ian Collis
ian.collis@btc.co.uk
Circulation/Subscriptions:
Christina Willis
(christina.willis@btc.co.uk)
Publisher:
John Jageurs
john.jageurs@btc.co.uk
Published by Barrow &
Thompkins Connexion Ltd.
35 Station Square, Petts Wood,
Kent BR5 1LZ
Tel: +44 (0) 1689 616 000
Fax: +44 (0) 1689 82 66 22
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
UK £35/year, £60/two years,
£80/three years;
Europe:
£48/year, £85 two years,
£127/three years;
R.O.W. £62/year
£115/two years, £168/three years.
Single copies can be bought for £8.50
(includes postage & packaging).
Published 6 times a year.
© 2022 Barrow & Thompkins
Connexion Ltd.
All rights reserved.
No part of the magazine may be
reproduced, without prior consent
in writing, from the publisher
For more magazines from BTC, please visit:
www.btc.co.uk
Articles published reflect the opinions of
the authors and are not necessarily those
of the publisher or his employees. While
every reasonable effort is made to ensure
that the contents of editorial and advertising
are accurate, no responsibility can be
accepted by the publisher for errors, misrepresentations
or any resulting effects
Comment
Left behind?
by David Chadwick
I'm afraid I have to apologise for
pandering to stereotypes by giving a
friend a birthday card recently which
featured a Private Eye cartoon depicting a
bar at a Builders Annual Conference
surrounded by a lot of beer drinking
workers all showing a 'builder's bum'. I am
quite sure none of you have to refer to
Google to know out what I mean.
It came to mind when putting together the
Access Group article in this issue, which
contains some shocking figures about the
skills shortage in the industry and the lack of
young people entering the profession to
replace the large numbers rapidly
approaching retirement age. Apparently
only 3% of young people in the 18-24 age
group have expressed any interest in joining
the construction industry - far too few to
replace a declining workforce or to address
the growing demands on the industry.
The article puts forward the main issues
that have to be addressed, and the need to
educate both the leaders and the young to
stem the decline. I leave you to read the
article but I am, perhaps, at liberty to look
at the issue from a broader perspective.
A quick look online soon brings up a
couple of views from potential recruits who
view the profession as a manual labour job
for those who don't have the ability to get
into university, a low paid profession which
only needs low skills, which appear to
consist mainly of bricklaying and plumbing.
Today's youth are tech savvy and worldly
wise. With total access to social media
they are both well informed and equally
well misinformed, and currently that
doesn't include much real information
about the actual prospects in the
construction industry.
That includes the whole gamut of climate
change, CO2 emissions, greenhouse
gasses and so on and, being young, they
are full of zeal and idealism and equate the
construction industry, with its continuing
reliance on outdated and environmentally
harmful technologies, as the bad guys in
all this. Their concerns are magnified by
the media which broadcasts their views,
continues to depict workers in the industry
unfavourably and publishes Private Eye
cartoons to turn the screw another couple
of degrees.
In reality, the construction industry is in
the frontline of the battle to build a
sustainable environment. Its architects,
engineers and on-site workers are
committed to building living and working
environments and an infrastructure without
harming the planet further, for both our
own need and the wellbeing of our children
and the rest of the planet. To do so we
need to leverage all of the latest
technologies and tools, but more than this
we need to get across to millennials that
the industry consists of a wide range of
opportunities, looking for creative solutions
to problems that affect the whole planet.
We need to go beyond the 'apprentice'
culture - a frame of mind probably fostered
and maintained by the current training
schemes set up years ago and run as they
have been for decades - and persuade the
young that careers can be found on and
offsite that are both well paid and offer the
clout of respected professionals.
Failure to address this issue in a creative
and forceful manner will result in a
massively enfeebled industry, incapable
of building the future that we need and
deserve - as the figures in the Access
Group's article illustrate. It's a strong call
to action!
4 January/February 2022