Construction & Built Environment Workforce Development Partnership

A lively and well-attended third meeting of the Construction Workforce Development Partnership saw employers, training providers, sector bodies and wider partners come together to continue to move the skills agenda for the sector forward. Held on September 12th at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Newbury the membership had presentations from the Local Skills Improvement Plan team; The Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce; Adviza; our Employer Champion from Helix Construction; Mathew Bennet from ‘Rethinking Construction’ and Paul Ducker and John Holland from New Directions College.

Simon Barrable and Tim Major (Thames Valley Chamber Team) gave an update on progress since the April meeting and covered the LSIP Progress Report showing the significant extent of employer and training provider engagement during our first year. As well the impact of the range of Workforce Development Partnerships we now have meeting regularly across a range of priority sectors in the Thames Valley. The Chamber Quarterly Economic Survey was presented and delegates were invited to complete this.

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. Good progress is being made on this with several key employers looking to get involved now. This includes Helix and Sisk and Son, with Helix looking to incorporate the programme into their new talent development Foundation.

Our Employer Champion Lawrence Wright, from Helix outlined a range of activities he’s involved with to promote opportunities in the sector to the next generation and gave an overview of the more positive outlook for the sector as we move towards 2025.

Mathew Bennet from ‘Rethinking Construction’ presented a thought-provoking paper challenging the construction industry to think differently about its recruitment problems. He emphasised the need for the industry to be more aspirational and better attuned to the needs and values of the next generation, from trainees to apprentices to graduates. He will be chairing the roundtable event we are running in January to discuss the recruitment issues for the sector in more depth and highlight the breadth of opportunities within it.

Paul Ducker and John Holland presented to the group on the sustainability challenge for the sector and what more can be done to help to meet this and promote what the sector is doing to potential new employees. The group committed to a number of key actions:

• A Roundtable discussion on the skills and recruitment needs of the sector
• Progressing the hard-to-reach groups recruitment project
• Continuing to promote the wider opportunities of the sector, with post-roundtable resources contributing to this
• Keeping employers up to date with the provision available from educators, and training providers up to date with sector training needs
• Looking at career changers as a source of future talent for the sector