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UK’s first modular housing training academy launched in Yorkshire
Modular house builder Ilke Homes has launched the UK’s first modular housing academy in North Yorkshire.
The academy will be used to teach existing employees and 162 new recruits offsite construction skills, including: engineering, plumbing, carpentry, manufacturing and design.
Both apprenticeships and graduate schemes will be offered to a range of people, including school leavers, military veterans and ex-offenders, in a bid to ease the current construction skills crisis.
The academy will be based next to Ilke Homes’ factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, which has the capacity to produce 2,000 homes a year.
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In June, Inside Housing visited the factory after the company agreed a 750-home modular housing deal with Places for People.
Last year, London mayor Sadiq Khan launched a construction skills academy in response to fears of a looming skills shortage in the capital’s construction sector.
Dave Sheridan, executive chair of Ilke Homes, said: “We have a responsibility to help people from all backgrounds to find employment and for too long the construction sector has sat on its hands while the skills shortage has hit crisis point.
“Creating local jobs and helping get more women and young people into the sector have to be priorities.
“The government has ambitious targets to build new homes and only through investment in factories will this realistically happen. Investment will only flow if the right skills exist – and that’s why we are keen to collaborate with everyone in the industry.”
Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said: “It’s no secret that the construction industry has struggled to cope with the ongoing skills shortage. The launch of the Ilke Academy represents a huge step in the right direction in teaching new skills to local people from all walks of life, creating new and exciting jobs while boosting our local economy.
“I am delighted to see that Yorkshire has established itself as a hotbed of housing innovation. This will be vital as we continue to reverse the brain drain that the capital has swallowed up and ensure that we can attract top talent to the region.”
