Tarmac campaigns to fill skills gap

Tarmac is spearheading a campaign to recruit more people into the building materials sector.

Tarmac is spearheading a campaign to recruit more people into the building materials sector.

The campaign, which coincides with National Construction Week (5th - 12th October) hopes to persuade school leavers and graduates that there's more to construction than the skilled trades.

The campaign follows extensive work by the Government to address the skills shortage in general within the construction sector.

However, according to Tarmac, the building materials sector has been all but forgotten in the government's extensive recruitment drive and as a result the industry could suffer.

Lesz Sikorski, head of organisation development at Tarmac says: "The government has put a lot of time, money and effort into promoting traditional and better known roles within the construction industry such as skilled trades.

However, without an influx of talent into the building materials sector - from quarry and process plant operatives to managerial roles across all the business functions, the construction industry as a whole could suffer.

"Take quarrying as an example.

Currently, the UK produces 205 million tonnes of aggregate each year and virtually all of the building materials required to maintain and extend our infrastructure originates from UK quarries.

Unfortunately, the number of people considering a career in the quarrying industry is in massive decline.

This, combined with opportunities abroad, is putting a strain on succession planning.

The potential impact is huge." The Tarmac campaign aims to communicate the huge variety of roles, impressive training schemes and the possibilities for fast progression within the sector.

Claire Leggat, a graduate trainee at Tarmac and one of the campaign's advocates says: "The variety of work open to recruits in the building materials sector is more extensive than in any industry I have come across.

If we can communicate the benefits of a career in the sector we can hopefully attract more and more talented individuals.".

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