Construction Employers
Industry collaboration to help share best practice, increase relevant skills development and utilise their collective purchasing power to drive the relevance, availability and quality of training provision. It will also develop the workforce in the key skills needed for growth.
The skills challenge
Construction is fundamental to the UK economy’s health representing up to 13% of GDP and employing over 2.6 million workers. Every £1 spent on construction output generates a total of £2.84 in GDP*. Investment in construction activity and training is good for the economy, productivity, employers and employees.
This Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot (EOP) project is being delivered by a consortium of construction employers, led by Balfour Beatty, and including Kier Group, Wates Group and BAM Nuttall. The consortium includes a total of 18 businesses, including SMEs, and is backed by industry bodies.
A number of skills challenges have been identified by the consortium. There is an urgent need to address the lack of work readiness amongst new entrants to the sector including ‘softer’ skills. The consortium has also identified a lack of Apprenticeship entry routes in a range of critical occupations and a restricted uptake of specialist Apprenticeships. A key concern is also the lack of leadership and management skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing environment.
The solution
The EOP project will support industry collaboration to help share best practice, increase relevant skills development and utilise their collective purchasing power to drive the relevance, availability and quality of training provision. It will also develop the workforce in the key skills needed for growth.
Encompassing employability, Apprenticeships and up-skilling, there are expected to be in excess of 150 employers involved in the project. Previously employers have tended to tackle skills issues within their own business but this collaboration begins a move to address issues on a larger scale which benefits the sector and the wider economy as a whole.
The project will:
- Pilot a sector recognised work experience programme and new entry routes
- Develop five new Apprenticeships in areas with key skills gaps
- Increase the uptake of specialist Apprenticeships to address skills gaps via engagement with more and harder to reach SMEs
- Deliver almost 15,000 additional workforce up-skilling interventions
- Deliver over 3,600 training interventions for managers and future leaders
- Enhance best practice through sector-led course design and collective purchasing power
Impact
The EOP creates a unique opportunity for companies in the sector to collaborate on skills solutions. Usually the companies only concentrate on their own organisation’s skills and development issues and traditionally there is a reluctance to collaborate due to competitive advantage.
The project will provide almost 900 young people and over 700 adults with access to pre-employment work placements, enabling them to gain relevant experience better placing them to take up jobs in the sector. It will create almost 700 Apprenticeships in areas of skills shortage and with SMEs in the supply chain. Over 18,000 skills training interventions will be implemented to up-skill the current workforce and increase the sector’s capacity and capability through its leaders, managers and skilled occupations.
The project will reduce duplicate training interventions, costs and will be a catalyst for the sharing, management and implementation of best practice skills solutions.
*L.E.K. Consulting 2009
Investment
Employer investment: £6,076,546
Employer Ownership Pilot Funding: £6,076,546
Total: £12,153,092
