In order to reap the benefits of the recovering economy, many businesses in the UK are choosing to engage in recruitment drives as a means of ensuring they are able to fulfil client demands as orders increase.
Yet, in the construction industry, skills shortages are beginning to limit company growth, causing firms such as Bristol based Helm Construction to launch a training programme – something which is already beginning to show merit as the “sleeping giant” sector continues to awaken.
In order to meet expected demand, the commercial and residential construction company has revealed plans to double its workforce by the 2017/18 financial year, with the training programme set to play a huge part in that process.
However, the decision to launch a training programme is not something which Helm Construction settled upon reactively; it was first piloted during the recession, and CEO Gary Sheppard (pictured)believes that firms would now be better placed to meet the current level of demand if they had engaged in a similar practice.
He says; “We are in the initial stages of the biggest building boom since the 1970s but the recession has left many firms struggling to find the highly skilled workforce they need to deliver on site, on time.
“The fact the apprentices we took on during the recession are now moving up through the ranks to take up new positions as skilled tradesmen, supervisors and site managers means we aren’t going to be left behind as the big companies look to re-build their own workforces to cope with this vastly increased demand.
“While bigger companies laid off workers and shut down their apprentice training schemes we expanded ours to ensure we were ready when the economy finally picked up.”
Helm Construction’s foresight has proven particularly advantageous as, at present, industry experts are predicting that the biggest sector boom will be seen in the South West.
Due to a shortage of homes, they expect the construction sector to require an additional 30,000 workers to build tens of thousands of residential buildings over the next few years – allowing Helm Construction to reap the benefits of a plentiful skilled workforce.
The urban regeneration specialist has already begun work on some of Bristol’s most challenging brownfield development sites, with many more in the pipeline in the surrounding area. This is because the Government has selected a number of brownfield sites in the west of the UK as housing zones in order to reduce the demand upon environmentally significant greenfield sites.
Mr Sheppard adds; “The five sites in Weston-super-Mare, South Bristol, Gloucester city centre, Ashchurch in Tewkesbury and Foxhill in Bath will be fast tracked as housing zones, which will enable developers to borrow up to £200 million from the Public Works Loan Board to ensure infrastructure issues can be tackled head on.
“Much of the construction industry is facing shortages of skilled labour – including bricklayers, plumbers, plasterers, carpenters and electricians.
“Many will have to factor in a significant time-lag before they can attract, train and deploy the skilled workforce necessary to cope with this demand.”
Do you think firms should be encouraged to implement training programmes as a means of tackling skills shortages in sectors where demand is high?
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