June 2018 | Broadsword Group

£22 million cash injection to address skills shortage

June 27, 2018/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News /by joannevickers

The government has attempted to address the construction industry skills shortage with a £22m cash injection which will bring training to construction sites and therefore allowing learners to apply their knowledge in a real-world environment.

The multi-million-pound Construction Skills Fund has been announced by skills minister Anne Milton with 158,000 new construction jobs expected to be created in the UK over the next five years after first being unveiled by the chancellor Philip Hammond in his Spring Statement.

Money will go towards 20 on-site hubs to train more people to help deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. The 18-month scheme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and will be administered by the Construct.on Industry Training Board.

Commenting on the announcement, Milton said: “For our economy to thrive we need everyone, regardless of their age or background, to be able to get the training and the skills they need to make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead. The government has committed to building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s and we want to make sure that we are investing in the UK skills base to deliver this. A career in construction offers the chance for many people to establish and grow their own business. On-site training will be hugely beneficial for employers and trainees, as it will help bridge the gap between training and working in the industry, meaning trainees are site-ready sooner.”

The fund forms a vital part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy – a long-term plan to build a Britain fit for the future by helping businesses create jobs in every part of the UK.

It underlines the Government’s commitment to improving education standards for everyone, so they can gain the skills they need to succeed and can secure good jobs.

The fund aims to support:

20 on-site training hubs
Work experience and placements for people working to join the industry
Entry pathways for those currently unemployed
Pathways for career switchers.

CITB is now calling on employers, housing associations and other interested bodies such as LEPs and local authorities to submit expressions of interest. These can be from both existing and prospective on-site learning hubs.

The funding will only support on-site training provision, and access to live construction projects is essential to qualify.

Steve Radley, Policy Director at CITB, said: The Construction Skills Fund is a milestone scheme for the sector and provides a significant investment in skills and training. It will help attract new talent and bridge the gap between training and working in the industry. Having training on or near to major projects will reveal what an exciting sector this can be, while also putting new talent in the shop window. We want all interested organisations to submit Expressions of Interest that are innovative, collaborative and with training at their heart. We will support applicants through the process and provide expert guidance to apply to the fund. We are pleased to help deliver this major new project and we are confident that, with industry support, it can help meet construction’s skills needs now and in the future.

Managing director Graham Ratcliffe said: “It is great seeing funds being made available to support on-site training through hubs similar to the Construction Skills Villages in Scarborough and Barnsley. We hope to secure funds to expand our unique and successful model in turn helping support the construction industry overcome a skills gap.”

Funds provided by the DfE will also be provided for work experience placements for people working to join the industry, entry pathways for those currently unemployed and pathways for career switchers.

The CITB is now calling on employers, housing associations and other interested bodies such as LEPs and local authorities to submit expressions of interest. These can be from both existing and prospective on-site learning hubs.

Radley continued: “Having training on or near to major projects will reveal what an exciting sector this can be, while also putting new talent in the shop window. We want all interested organisations to submit Expressions of Interest that are innovative, collaborative and with training at their heart. We will support applicants through the process and provide expert guidance to apply to the fund.”

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has released new research investigating how to tackle the skills crisis.

With Brexit on the horizon, the research points to the need for greater skills transferability, with a key goal to attracting talent from other sectors and trades.

The new report, ‘Construction and Built Environment: Skills Transferability in the UK’, surveying 500 employers across the UK, found that with a smaller construction talent pool post-Brexit, the sector needs to look at encouraging people from different industries to look at construction as a good career progression.

The industry is not noted for its diversity of talent, with researchers finding that 62% of employers took no action to encourage employees to transfer between trades. This is despite approximately one in five (19%) of construction sector workers having previously worked in another sector.

The report highlighted manual occupations, such as steel erectors and bricklayers, as the roles with the best potential to transfer skills.

The survey pointed to a number of challenges in increasing skills transferability, including:

Improving the image of the industry
Changing the way training is delivered to it promotes multi-skilling
Concerns from employees and unions around multi-skilling

Radley continued: “Our research shows that transferability of skills is a growing issue, particularly with Brexit looming.

“While many employers are not yet looking at it, it could become a significant way to meet our skills needs in the coming years.

“CITB clearly has a role to play in this. Our forecasts can help prioritise support for upskilling and ensure training providers are well placed to respond. In addition, we will collaborate with industry to develop top-up courses to enable transition for people with relevant transferable skills.”

Source: Infrastructure Intelligence / UK Construction Media

Is Brexit going to create a skills shortage?

June 20, 2018/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News /by joannevickers

Constructionnews.co.uk, as part of their week long industry skills challenge, have discovered how fresh data and political investigations are shedding more and more light on the impact Brexit is having and will have on workforces.

Brexit negotiations have moved forward yet at the same time seem to have produced little real progress.

Despite Theresa May’s ‘deal’ announced in December last year, uncertainty still hangs in the air for the UK’s 3.2m EU nationals.

Under the current agreement, EU citizens who have been in the UK for five years continuously will be able to apply for ‘settled status’. The online system is being developed from scratch, but the government promises it will be “user-friendly” and draw on existing data to “minimise the burden on applicants to provide evidence”.

The EU workforce’s contribution to the UK construction sector cannot be underestimated – particularly in London. As the Construction Industry Council pointed out in its evidence to the MAC: “Nearly 200,000 people working in construction are from the EU, which is the equivalent workforce for building 16 Crossrails.”

Only one more Crossrail is planned, for now, but that’s part of a £500bn pipeline of major infrastructure projects – including HS2, Hinkley and Heathrow. In addition, housebuilding is expected to ramp up as the government aims to tackle the UK’s shortage of homes.

In the scaffolding sector alone, thousands of employees will be needed for major nuclear power stations at Hinkley and Wylfa, leaving workers in short supply up and down the country.

Infrastructure plans are concentrated on the South-east, where the EU labour issue could become particularly acute. According to the MAC, 26.8 per cent of London’s construction workforce is from the EU.

Two years on from the EU referendum, how worried should the industry be about a ‘Brexodus’ and what are the current trends around labour?

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of EU nationals working in the UK has fallen 28,000 in a year to 2.29m.

ONS data published in February revealed that the number of Eastern European nationals working in the UK last year slid by 5 per cent.

Meanwhile its latest employment survey, published in May, showed that in Q1 2018, 80 per cent of main contractors were reporting difficulties with recruiting bricklayers, 76 per cent were having trouble finding carpenters and 56 per cent were struggling to find plasterers.

These issues can partly be attributed to the long-running skills crisis in construction. But they also emphasise the need to address the status of EU nationals.

Anecdotally, Mr Radley says the CITB is hearing that the number of EU workers in construction is remaining generally stable, but there is some concern about the quality of workers arriving.

“A lot of workers here currently are from Poland and are generally regarded as being technically some of the best – multi-skilled and with good language skills,” he says. “But it may be that immigrants from some other countries don’t score as highly on those fronts.”

As contractors work out how to fill the gaps, others are still concerned about how government views the construction industry in the context of Brexit. A leaked document last year revealed that construction was rated as a ‘low priority’ by government.

However, Liberal Democrat peer and former coalition government minister Lord Stunell believes this is the wrong approach.

“Everything about growth in the economy is dependent on construction, but the government seems completely transfixed with getting its immigration figures down,” he says. “The industry needs to expand its workforce by 30 per cent to get these big infrastructure projects done, but could lose 10 per cent of its workforce.”

It is not just the lack of EU workers that is weighing on the minds of construction bosses. The industry’s ageing workforce – with 30 per cent of workers over 50 – remains a deep-seated concern. The added sting in the tail is that there is a higher proportion of young migrant workers compared with their UK counterparts.

Brexit and an ageing workforce combined could prove a big stumbling block in the future, however figures generally are encouraging in terms of output at the moment, and that is something that can be built upon. Brexit was always going to bring uncertainty, but being prepared and working towards solutions now means that once change comes the construction industry as a whole will be ready.

Source: Construction News

Construction output increased 8% in 2017

June 13, 2018/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News /by joannevickers

Recently revised data from AMA Research indicates that total construction output increased by 8% in 2017 compared with 2016, to reach a total value of £163.5bn. In terms of value, new work accounts for the largest share, with output growth having been particularly strong in the residential new work segment, which saw growth of 14% in the year. RMI output has also been stronger in the residential than in the non-residential sector. Overall RMI output increased by 7% in 2017.

In H1 2018, the construction sector remains uncertain to moderately optimistic. Indications are that new orders remained positive into Q4 2017 and this should lead to some growth in terms of output into 2018 and beyond for certain key sub-sectors, and as a result, the outlook for the UK construction market remains mildly positive into the medium-term, although with lower rates of overall growth than previously forecast.

The outlook for the housing sector remains positive, if modest, with 17% overall growth in residential output currently forecast between 2017 and 2022. The imbalance between demand and supply for new housing will remain one of the key drivers for continued output growth for the residential sector, and the number of new programmes designed to address shortage in housing stocks should motivate output into the medium-term.

However, predicted growth in the newbuild sector is set against lower growth levels for completions, and also takes into account an element of materials inflation – in particular for the finishing of new housing, such as sanitaryware, tiles and electrical wiring products. RMI in the residential sector is currently forecast to remain relatively steady, with low annual growth rates reflecting consumer confidence levels.

The non-residential sector is facing more subdued growth into the medium-term with output currently forecast to reduce to 1-2% 2018-19, followed by annual growth of around 3% to 2022. The issue of business confidence and investment levels and the “wait and see” approach regarding the commitment to future funding and capital commitments are all likely to act as a brake on output levels into the medium-term.

Infrastructure will remain the largest sub-sector with growth underpinned by HS2 which has the potential to deliver £3-4bn pa of output to 2022. However, the HS2 works also bring into question the issue of capacities both in terms of materials but also workforce which could result in skills shortages for other sub-sectors into the medium-term.

The entertainment & leisure sector output is forecast to see good overall growth to 2022, when output is forecast to be around £10.9bn. Following growth of around 33% in 2017, annual growth rates are currently forecast to fall back to around 3-5% from 2018 to 2022.

The retail sector is currently forecast to perform less well, due to a combination of structural changes within the sector and also potential reduction in consumer confidence and spending levels, and the public sector is likely to see less investment in capital projects into the medium-term, particularly given the focus on the collapse of Carillion and their extensive involvement in PFI contracts.Pa

“Overall growth in construction output is forecast to reduce to around 2% for 2017-18, but improving to 3% for 2019-22” said Jane Tarver of AMA Research. “This more modest forecast takes into account the continuing uncertainty surrounding the Brexit process affecting the timing of business investment decisions.”

AMA Research publish the Construction and Housing Forecast Bulletin – GB 4 times a year – the bulletin provides analysis of the overall construction market in current prices, in terms of new work and RMI activity, also public and private sectors and detailed reviews of the two main sectors with sub-sector analysis for quarterly output and new orders, housing starts and completions, as well as forecasts to 2022.

The recent issue of the bulletin includes revised data for 2016 as well as preliminary data for the full year 2017 for output and new orders for total GB construction, as well as the residential and non-residential sectors, though this may be subject to revision in the medium term.

Source: UK Construction Week / AMA Research

Combustible cladding could be banned in the wake of Glenfell

June 6, 2018/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News /by joannevickers

Prime minister Theresa May has given another indication that the government is set to ban combustible cladding on high-rise buildings.

The government has already placed the possibility of such a ban under review, with housing secretary James Brokenshire announcing the move just hours after the publication last week of the Hackitt

Review, which stopped short of recommending a ban.

Brokenshire had already said in Parliament that the government was likely to agree a ban.

Now May has also admitted that she is “minded” to put a ban into action.

At prime minister’s questions yesterday, she confirmed that a ban was the government’s intention.

She said: “We are minded to go further, by banning combustible materials in cladding on high-rise buildings.

“We are meeting our legal duties to consult on these proposals and we will not delay any necessary action.”

She was responding to a question by Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston, who urged the prime minister to take tougher action to ban flammable cladding to avoid another tragedy like Grenfell Tower.

Following the publication last week of Dame Judith Hackitt’s final report into her review of Building Regulations and fire safety, the report’s eight key recommendations are as follows:

1) New regulatory framework

A new regulatory framework for buildings more than ten storeys high. This includes the creation of a new Joint Competent Authority (JCA), made up of Local Authority Building Standards, fire and rescue authorities and the Health and Safety Executive. The JCA will hold a database of all high-risk residential buildings (HHRBs), whether in construction or already occupied. It will oversee the sign-off of HHRBs with dutyholders having to show that their plans are “detailed and robust”.

2) Clear responsibilities

Hackitt warned that a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities when it comes to building safety was one of the circumstances that left to the Grenfell Tower disaster. She is recommending a clear and identifiable “dutyholder” with responsibility for building safety for the whole building. That dutyholder will have to present a safety case to the JCA at regular intervals. The key roles that are most important initiating, overseeing and influencing activity throughout the procurement, design and construction of a building should also be identified. The key roles for prioritising building safety will be the same as those identified in the Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations 2015 to avoid confusion.

3) Three ‘gateways’

There should be three “gateway” points where those responsible for a building’s safety will have to prove to the new JCA that they are complying with regulations. The first gateway point is to satisfy the JCA that the building is accessible by the fire service, which must be determined before the building gets planning permission. Secondly, the dutyholder must satisfy the JCA that key building safety risks are understood and will be managed and that “robust” processes are in place, before building work can start. Thirdly, the JCA must be satisfied that the signed-off design has been followed before occupation can start.

4) More rigorous enforcement

More rigorous enforcement powers. A wider and more flexible range of powers will be created to focus incentives on the creation of reliably safe buildings from the outset. Stronger enforcement powers should align with the Health and Safety at Work Act. The JCA/Local Authority Building Standards should have additional powers to issue improvement and prohibition notices, as well as clear powers to require changes to work that meet Building Regulations. Time limits for bringing prosecutions should be increased to five or six years for “major deficiencies”.

5) Higher competence levels

The construction sector and fire safety sector will have to demonstrate more effective leadership for ensuring building safety among key roles including an overarching body to provide oversight of competence requirements. The aim is to move towards a system where ownership of technical guidance rests with the industry as the intelligent lead in delivering building safety and providing it with the flexibility to ensure that guidance keeps pace with changing practices.

6) More effective product testing

A clearer, more transparent and more effective specification and testing regime of construction products must be developed, including products as they are put together as part of a system. There should be clear statements on what systems products can and cannot be used for, with their use made essential. The scope of testing, the application of products in systems, and the resulting implications must be more clearly communicated in plan, consistent and non-technical information. Additional test houses should be established and certified, while test methods and standards should be maintained under a periodic review process.

7) Better information

The review has identified four “key information products” integral to oversight on building safety. They are: the digital record, the fire and emergency file, full plans, and the construction control plan. Hackitt recommends that the creation, maintenance and handover of relevant information should be an “integral part” of the legal responsibilities of clients, principal designers, and principal contractors undertaking works on HRRBs.

8) Better procurement

Principal contractors and clients for HHRBs should devise contracts that specifically state that safety requirements must not be compromised for cost reduction. Tenders should set out how the proposed solution will produce safe building outcomes. Contracting documentation relating to the safety aspects of the building should be included in the digital record.

MPs are set to explore how systemic and cultural changes recommended as part of the Hackitt Review can be applied to the the construction industry as a whole.

The exercise comes as part of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee’s decision to follow up its work on the recent independent review of Building regulations and fire safety by holding further evidence sessions.

The sessions will examine the immediate changes needed to improve the safety of high-rise residential tower blocks, as well as some of the longer-term implications for the construction industry as a whole.

The Committee will call representatives including figures from the construction industry and fire safety experts, as well as the government, before Parliament breaks up for the summer recess.

It said it wanted to explore immediate, specific changes to regulations needed to make tower blocks safe, as well as how the longer-term systemic and cultural changes the Hackitt Review proposes can be implemented and how they apply to the construction industry more widely.

Clive Betts, chair of the Committee, said: “While we agree with the Review that there needs to be a shift in culture in the building industry, it is vital that the Government moves quickly to implement immediate changes to improve the safety of tower blocks.

“We want to find out what needs to be done now, such as the banning of combustible cladding, as well as ways of changing the long-term approach of the industry.

“By taking evidence before the summer we hope the government will consider our findings as part of the commitments made by the secretary of state last week to consult on banning cladding and the implementation of wider reform of the regulatory system.”

Source: Construction Manager Magazine / UK Construction Week