Construction & Built Environment Workforce Development Partnership

A lively and well-attended second meeting of the Construction Workforce Development Partnership saw employers, training providers, sector bodies and wider partners come together to really start to move the skills agenda for the sector forward. Held on April 17th at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Newbury the membership had presentations from the Local Skills Improvement Plan team; Ascentis – an awarding body developing new qualifications for the sector; Adviza – a charitable organisation working on a talent pipeline programme from hard to reach groups; and our Employer Champion from Helix Construction covering how we can better promote the sector.

Simon Barrable (LSIP Team) gave an update on progress since the November meeting and covered the range of new training programmes and facilities being developed by local colleges using the new Local Skills Improvement Fund monies. Clarissa Wheeler (Ascentis) explained the qualification landscape and sought input from employers in the development of new qualifications to be made available soon.

Sarah Clegg (Adviza) outlined their plans for bringing more people from harder-to-reach groups into the sector, with the support of employers and with vocational training from local educators. Lawrence Wright (Helix) outlined a range of activities he’s involved with to promote opportunities in the sector to the next generation. He also discussed plans for a promotional ‘roundtable’ event for the Thames Valley. The group committed to a number of key actions for this quarter: The concise mapping of qualifications for employers to understand what is currently offered and how they relate to opportunities/responsibilities in the workplace; the promotional roundtable event for the region; support for getting hard to reach groups into the sector.