Construction jobs for graduates

Construction industry appeal as prime source of technical and professional employment.

As part of a long-term campaign to make construction a 'destination employer' for the best of Britain's academic talent, Construction Skills, the industry's Sector Skills Council, has launched a campaign to make students in search of university places aware of the wide range of opportunities the industry offers for professional and technical graduates.

Some 100,000 eighteen year olds were sent text messages coinciding with arrival of their examination results, reminding them of the growing scope for technical and professional employment in the construction industry.

Construction Skills estimates that the industry, now employing as many as 600,000 people in technical and professional capacities, will be offering an average of 23,000 additional opportunities of this calibre every year for the next few years as, expecting more than 100,000 new positions to be created to meet increasing demand.

Recently appointed group chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Construction, Claire Curtis-Thomas MP, a chartered mechanical engineer and member of the House of Commons science and technology select committee, told the group meeting shortly after London's Olympic award became known: "I am very ambitious for this All-Party Group to look at the absolutely vital area of training and skills needs in the construction sector".

"Now that London is to host the Olympics in 2012 it is more important than ever that we work together to ensure that the sector gets the skills it needs in order to create the infrastructure for the Games".

Ms Curtis-Thomas, MP for Crosby on Merseyside, said she has two priorities this year: to contribute to a review of construction qualifications' fitness for purpose with the question, do they reflect what is needed and are they being adequately delivered? She also wants to identify ways in which the industry can attract more women and minority ethnic groups.

One of the first events on the group's calendar this Autumn is a celebration of employment projects which have successfully attracted women and ethnic minorities into the industry.

Nick Raynsford MP, recently appointed deputy chairman of the Construction Industry Council, who will succeed Stuart Henderson in the chair next year, has also been appointed secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group.

Equally seized of importance of training and sustainable employment in the industry, he has put it to the Government that in the creation of the many jobs resulting from Britain's success in winning the Olympic nomination, every effort should be made to secure employment and training opportunities for young people currently without a job in areas of the country where employment is below the national average.

This he believes will help in spreading the regeneration benefits of an expanding construction workload.

House building leaders back CSCS.

Meanwhile, the Major Home Builders Group, comprising the 12 largest publicly quoted members of the Home Builders Federation, has said it is aiming at having qualified-only operatives on its sites by December 2010.

In an initiative undertaken in partnership with Construction Skills, members of this group have written to their sub-contractors advising them that by December 2007 they will expect operatives on their sites to hold a Construction Skills Certification Scheme card, with the intention that they will be fully qualified within the following three years.

Neil Fitzsimmons, group managing director of Redrow, said they were sending out a message that the industry wants a qualified workforce working with greater efficiency and safety, and to convince people that there are real business benefits in encouraging all workers to become qualified.

Peter Redfern, chief executive of George Wimpey UK, said that in committing his company to improving the level of professional competence within the industry, he sees CSCS as an essential tool towards that end.

He also wants to see a fully carded workforce emerge from this initiative.

John White, chief executive of Persimmon plc, added that as one of the UK's leading housebuilders, his group was pleased to be involved in this initiative as CSCS is now acknowledged as the competency standard for management, supervisors and trade operatives within the industry.

GBP120 million funding for collective training.

Construction Skills is a partnership between the Construction Industry Training Board, the Construction Industry Council and CITB Northern Ireland.

It is one of the skills councils set up by the Government to implement the construction sector skills agreement which seeks increased employer commitment to training and skills throughout the supply chain.

In addition to investment by individual companies, employers have agreed a financial strategy which provides funding of over GBP120 million per year for collective training activity.

Around 700,000 CSCS cards have been issued to date and over 725,000 individuals have passed the construction health and safety test since its inception in 2000.

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