Construction is the UK’s biggest employer and exporter, responsible for £81 billion of outputs (£203 billion turnover) every year, more than 8% of the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is three times that of agriculture and larger than any single manufacturing industry. The sector accounts for half the UK’s total investment, and employs more than 2.1 million people (more than one in four of the total UK workforce) in over 700 types of job.

THE SECTOR AT A GLANCE

2.1 million
number of people employed in the UK construction industry

175,000
number of construction firms in the UK

100,000
target number of workers to be qualified to NVQ 2 standard each year

95%
percentage of construction firms employing fewer than ten people

23,500
professional practices

450,000
number of people employed by professional practices

88,000
new recruits required every year for the next five years

Of late, the world has become a very different place: the global economy has slowed considerably and the UK economy remains exposed to the debt crisis. In common with other sectors, this has affected the construction industry. Although the fabled ‘green shoots’ now appear to be showing, the recessionary period looks set to last into 2010, with the depressed housing market in turn reducing demand for industrial, office, retail and leisure facilities. Despite this, taking a more long-term view, construction output is set to rise, and in order to achieve its target of a fully qualified workforce, ConstructionSkills (the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry) has said that it needs to qualify 100,000 workers annually to NVQ 2 standard.

Indeed, work on the main venues for the 2012 Olympics started ahead of schedule and will continue until at least the end of 2010. The widening of the M25 is well under way, and work on Crossrail (the new high-frequency, convenient and accessible railway for London and the south-east) is due to start this year. There are major railway station redevelopments taking place at a number of locations, including Blackfriars and Farringdon (as part of the Thameslink programme), Reading, Birmingham New Street Gateway and Nottingham. Furthermore, the Scottish Government’s £3 billion ten-year transport investment plan continues, and the M74 redevelopment is currently on track. Construction work relating to the Building Schools for the Future programme will also help to offset falls in activity in other areas.

The expectation is that, by the second half of this year, the economy will start to expand once again. Potential house buyers will be able to access mortgage funding, and developers should see demand start to return. Thus, from 2011 – and as noted above – construction output is predicted to start to rise once again. Employment is projected to increase by just over 74,000 from late 2010 onwards – an overall rise of 2.9% between 2009 and 2013.

However, the workforce risks a serious skills shortfall due to its ageing nature. Despite 20% growth in the construction workforce since the early 1990s, the expansion has been uneven across different age groups. A major concern is the lack of young entrants into an ageing workforce, with numbers of older workers (aged 60 and over) in the industry having doubled in recent years, while the number of those aged 24 and under has fallen by 27%. While the increasing age profile is most pronounced in the manual workforce, professional trades such as architecture, mechanical and civil engineering could also lose 20% of their manpower to retirement in the next ten years.

The majority of employees, for both contractors and professionals, work within medium-sized companies (10–250 employees). However, most companies in both categories are small, with 95% employing fewer than ten employees. Furthermore, many people working within the sector are self-employed, representing over one-third of the available labour in the contracting sector. The under-representation of women and those from minority ethnic groups remains a priority issue for the industry. Training is also an issue: a third of trainees undertake level 1 training, but this does not meet the minimum requirements for new entrants.

Construction skills gained in the Services
 

Apart from a handful of people employed in units to carry out minor carpentry and repair jobs, and Army pioneers who have basic building skills, all three Services rely on the Royal Engineers for construction, including airfield and port repair and maintenance.

Some officers may have a first degree in an engineering discipline, on-the-job training and experience, postgraduate qualifications and/or membership of a civilian institution. Their experience of managing engineering projects may be particularly attractive to any future employer.

Non-commissioned ranks will have completed anything from NVQs at level 2 in basic training and level 3 after higher training, to an apprenticeship. Trades vary from surveyor to plant operator, and from draughtsman to bricklayer.

Professional and management careers

People employed at this level will usually be qualified as one of the following:

• architect
• architectural technologist
• building control surveyor
• building engineer
• building services engineer
• building surveyor
• civil engineer
• construction manager
• facilities manager
• general practice surveyor
• geomatics surveyor
• geospacial modeller
• geotechnical engineer
• hydrographic surveyor
• landscape architect
• land surveyor
• project manager
• quantity surveyor
• structural engineer
• town planner.

Qualifications

Entry to the industry at this level requires academic qualifications. These could include the following:

• national certificate (NC), national diploma (ND), Scottish vocational qualification level 3 – college qualifications in construction-related subjects such as building studies or construction and the built environment, which roughly equate to A-level
• higher national certificate (HNC) or higher national diploma (HND) –college or university qualifications; HNCs are usually taken part-time and HNDs full-time; both can take two or three years to complete; those qualified at this level usually start as advanced technicians or trainee managers, and work towards professional qualifications such as Incorporated Engineer
• foundation degree – takes two years to complete full-time or three to four years part-time; provides entry to the third year of an honours degree
• honours degree (BA, BSc, BEng or MEng) – usually in subjects like civil and structural engineering or construction management – take three to four years to complete full-time, and five or more years part-time; graduates coming into the industry usually join a specially tailored training scheme leading to such professional qualifications as Chartered Engineer or Chartered Surveyor.

Technicians generally make things happen by combining theory with practice. They can be qualified in any of the areas appropriate for professional and management careers, or in roles such as:

• architectural technician
• buyer
• CAD operative
• estimator
• planner
• plant technical support
• roofing technician
• site engineer
• site inspector
• site technical support.

To start training and/or do a college course requires four GCSEs, or equivalent, at grade C or above, with maths, English and the sciences being the preferred subjects. However, some people start training with A-levels and others qualify through craft skills (see below), often attending an FE college to gain, say, national qualifications. Still others enter with NCs/NDs or vocational qualifications.

Craft careers

Craftsmen and women are the people who actually make things. Some major jobs for which they are trained include:

• demolition
– demolition operative
– scaffolder
– steel erector
– steeplejack
• interiors
– ceiling fixer
– dry liner
– floor layer
– glazier
– painter and decorator
– partitioner
– plasterer
– plumber
– renderer
– wall and floor tiler
• plant
– plant hire controller
– plant mechanic
– plant operator (see the accompanying box on the CPCS)
– plant sales person
• roofing
– built-up felt roofer
– lead sheeter
– liquid waterproofing systems operative
– mastic asphalter
– roof sheeter and cladder
– roof slater and tiler
– single ply roofer
• trowel
– bricklayer
– construction operative
– stonemason
• wood
– bench joiner
– carpenter and joiner
– formworker
– shop fitter
– wood machinist.

Many of these trades are learned on the job, but the construction industry has training schemes that combine working and education to produce qualifications. For example, a plasterer might start by learning the basics of plastering walls, but go on to become an expert in ornate ceiling and wall decoration in expensive houses. Other people might build a portfolio in a number of skills to qualify them for supervisory and then general management. Another example of current certification is the Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) – a card scheme introduced to prove the skills of plant operators (see box).

Building services covers the essential services that allow buildings to operate, while the heritage sector has a long history of building traditional-style structures and needs a wide range of craft skills that have to be kept alive for the future.
 
The Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS)

Plant is a varied part of the construction industry – there are more than 66 different categories of plant in use. Construction plant operators work with the diverse machinery and equipment that is used on building sites, roadworks, railways and in forestry. The CPCS provides a single skills card for the plant sector of the construction industry; it covers many categories, including some very specialised equipment.

Most contractors will insist that plant operators are in possession of an up-to-date CPCS card before they allow them to work on site; it is the largest and most recognised card scheme for the construction plant industry. A valid card is proof of the operator’s skills and shows that they have passed the relevant health and safety tests.

After close communication with the industry, the scheme was updated in September 2009 to make it easier for plant employers to get their staff accredited in a more flexible way, without losing any of the quality that has always been associated with the CPCS. Accepted on all major construction sites, possession of the CPCS card is an excellent way to make sure that plant operators are qualified to work on any project.

For further information, guidance notes or to search for test centres, visit www.cskills.org/cpcs

Training and qualifications

ConstructionSkills has developed the National Construction College – a network of colleges training and assessing construction skills throughout the UK.

In addition, the industry has its own vocational qualifications and apprenticeships at advanced and apprentice level. Craftsmen/women can gain vocational qualifications while working, and develop their skills through technical training, perhaps gaining certificates or diplomas, eventually becoming fully professionally qualified, with a degree. Entry to these schemes requires reasonable maths and English ability, while more than 90 higher education and 400 further education colleges offer courses in construction and the built environment.

KEY CONTACTS

ConstructionSkills, Bircham Newton, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6RH Tel: 0344 994 4400 Website: www.cskills.org