East Midlands Skills Shortage Causing Issues

As an industry it is becoming more and more evident to all in Construction that we are struggling to attract talented young professionals. There are numerous reports that go into detail on how the industry needs to step up its game in terms of attracting A-Level students and many claim that Construction as a whole does not do enough to publicise the wide variety of roles available to young people.

This has resulted in skills shortages in some regions, with the East Midlands being an area that has most recently felt the effects.

Recent reports have emerged that have described the situation in the area as being close to “breaking point”. Specialist construction company, Scape Group has looked into the issue in the UK construction supply chain, producing an analytical report that saw them speak to 150 Specialist Subcontractors, Main Contractors and senior management specialists at public sector organisations in the East Midlands to find out the depth of the issue.

The result is that 85% of public sector respondents who were surveyed believe that a skills shortage is negatively affecting projects locally. This figures are borne out by recent stats released by the Office of National Statistics that indicate that construction output has decreased by 6.4% over the last quarter.

Chief Executive of Scape Group, Mark Robinson, also notes that 10% of Specialist and Main Contractors believe that the skills shortage also has a negative effect on project budgets and has called on the industry to implement a culture of collaboration and training to tackle the problem.

He commented:

“Our research has shown that the skills shortage is at breaking point, not only severely impacting the quality of what we are building but also our ability to build it on budget. While there is a mountain to climb to overcome this challenge, basic recommendations can be put in place to ease the burden – for example, 19% of contractors and subcontractors still do not have an apprenticeship scheme.”

This is an issue that certainly needs to be remedied if Construction is to continue marching forward and C-Link strongly support any efforts to attract new and emerging talent to the sector.

For our part at C-Link, we will continue to do what we can to make the procurement process for Construction projects more efficient through the use of our website, which connects Specialists with Professionals. We believe that it is innovations, coupled with work to create increased awareness about the industry, which will attract young talent to the industry.

To find out more about C-Link, and to keep up with the latest industry news, please feel free to explore our site at www.c-link.com and consider signing up to our platform.

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About Paul Heming

Paul was a Quantity Surveyor who gained 10 years experience of managing £200 million worth of flagship UK projects, including 20 Fenchurch Street and Battersea Power Station. In 2015, Paul founded C-Link with the intention of sharing his expertise of managing major projects with the SME market.