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Social landlords sign up to £10m construction careers programme
Twenty-nine councils and housing associations have signed up to a £10m programme aimed at getting more people from diverse backgrounds into construction.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) hopes to attract more than 11,800 people to the sector through its ‘Pathways into Construction’ project over the next three years.
Pathways into Construction will see the funding, raised through a construction industry levy paid to CITB, invested in 270 colleges, construction firms, housing associations, councils and others to help them recruit people from under-represented backgrounds.
Clarion Housing Group, L&Q and Birmingham City Council are among the social landlords taking part.
Croydon Council hopes to encourage more than 500 women and long-term unemployed people to join its construction skills training programme over the next three years helped by the project, with partners including its housing company Brick by Brick.
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Britain’s construction output is expected to grow 1.3% a year between now and 2023, creating 168,500 new jobs.
Just 16% of construction workers are women, while 7% are from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
CITB said low levels of representation for women and BAME people are partly down to construction firms relying on traditional recruitment methods, such as word of mouth.
Ninety-two construction firms, developers, infrastructure projects and trade bodies are involved in Pathways into Construction.
Stephen Cole, head of careers strategy at CITB, said: “With thousands of jobs being created in the coming years, Pathways into Construction will demonstrate that we need to stop fishing in only half the pond and diversify the talent pool to meet future skills needs.
“We’ll explore the best routes, which employers can adopt in future, to bring under-represented groups into the industry, not only filling the skills gap but also supporting employers by recruiting domestic talent with Brexit on the horizon.”
Future of Work Festival
New for 2019, Inside Housing’s Future of Work Festival will bring together HR and organisational development professionals from the housing sector to discuss and explore the challenges of how to successfully evolve towards the working environment of the future.
Seize this opportunity to rethink your workforces and workplaces by reconsidering the roles of individuals, organisations, automation technology and how society will approach work.
Assess and benchmark your business strategy with the leaders in the housing sector:
- Defining the Future of Work: what does it look like, what will be the implications, how do you rethink your workforce strategy?
- How to embed Electronic Data Interchange into your workforce, attract the widest pool of talent, be authentic and innovative, keep your workforce happy and productive, and position your brand
- Identifying, assessing and closing the skill gaps: what skills will be required in the future and how do you prepare for the undefined?
- Appealing to and maintaining a multi-generational workforce: how to address differing career aspirations, expectations, behaviours and values
- How best to implement the best tech, for example, big data, artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain and the Internet of Things. How will this change workplace skills and wages? How do you evolve towards a ‘STEMpathetic’ workforce?
- Providing your HR and OD department with the right skills and toolkits to revise talent, organisational structures and business models. Be social and environmentally friendly, and data driven – investing in disruptive tech, skills training and ethical use of tech
- Promoting well-being and employee experience
- Introducing training and learning as part of the career path
- Embracing agile working – understanding how flexible and alternative working arrangements can boost productivity
The festival will take place on 17 September, at Westminster Bridge, County Hall in London.
