Construction Industry is Still Looking Good

                                                                                         

Re-creating Interest in the Construction Trade
by Tal Potishman

With green blankets covering the buildings and cranes looming darkly overhead, Britain's commercial building boom doesn't seem to be much affected by the economic slump. As other industries cut back, the commercial building industry is not doing so, which is resulting in a noticeable shortage of workers to meet the demands of British construction companies.

The dearth of skilled construction workers becomes most apparent when looking at last year's figures. 13,000 building projects were initiated in 2007 alone, and in order to support these projects, some 18,600 labourers were needed. The deficiency in skills is therefore widespread, expanding from the trade to the non-trade. Within trades, the highest annual requirements come from the wood and the electrical trades, but demands are also high for brick-layers and construction specialists. In the non-trades, construction managers, business processing managers, architects, office-based IT recruits, and technical and professional staff are among those on high demand.

This worrying dearth is primarily due to three reasons: 1) As a result of the building boom; 2) the dwindling numbers of East Europeans in the trade; 3) the misperceptions of recruiters about what construction work involves.

The first reason, which has already been discussed above, is quite self-explanatory - the more construction projects are launched, the more recruits are needed to do the jobs.

As the British trade has been largely dominated by highly-skilled Polish workers over the years, the impact of Poland's recent economic boom has driven many Poles back to their home country, which is a big loss for British construction companies.

The third reason for the shortage of workers is because of the misperceptions job hunters have when it comes to construction work. Many recruiters still view the job as being bound to construction site, while in fact, a lot building jobs are either managerial or office-based.

Various steps have been taken to diminish the gap in the trade. One of the ways companies do this is by getting women and various ethnic groups to consider a career in construction - not just white males with maths qualifications. The National Association of Women in Construction, for example, is looking outside the traditional recruitment pools, trying to target groups with a larger range of skills and work approaches. This creates a different work atmosphere, introduces fresh ideas into the industry, and cultivates diversity in the workplace.

The Sustainable Employment Legacy Forum and Inspire Scholarships are two programs that provide initiatives to get younger generations interested in the industry. They not only organise trips for children to visit construction sites, but provide training courses, student funds, and apprenticeships for those in the poorer areas of London, by doing so encouraging more graduates to enter the trade.

An alternative way to gather recruits is to change the way in which the industry is viewed. By making the public aware of the fact that construction work is not just about hard hats and light-reflecting mesh jackets, more people might consider construction as a career.

About the author:
Tal Potishman, editor of Heating Central, writes articles about central heating, boilers, Wandsworth boiler, underfloor heating and solar thermal. He specializes in helping save money by advising on efficient heating.

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