Skills

Thomas Mayhew is senior associate at Fragomen Despite what you might have heard, the UK has one of the more efficient immigration sponsorship regimes in the world. Changes made last year to the post-Brexit immigration system have offered an olive branch of sorts to the industry, making many more construction…

Firms must address skills gaps caused by a post-pandemic rise in early retirement. Adam Branson investigates

Lorraine Gregory is regional director of CECA Midlands At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, few would have believed that one of the biggest issues we’d face as an economy is an unemployment rate so low that we could not find the staff with the skills to fill good jobs.…

Construction firms need more help training homegrown workers to replace the EU nationals sucked out of the UK labour market by Brexit, Keith Cooper discovers

Russell Haworth is chief executive officer at NBS Have you tried reverse mentoring? For me, it has been a game-changer. I’ve learnt an incredible amount about the way young people view their careers. I’d go so far as to say reverse mentoring will be essential in the construction sector in…

Jane Atkinson is executive director of engineering, automation and projects at Bilfinger UK Many of us have campaigned for years to bring more women into the sector. But, sadly, the improvement has been marginal at best. The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data tells us that just 13 per…

Andrew Eldred is director of workforce and public affairs at trade body ECA This month saw the publication of a new report on installer competence. It was prepared on behalf of Working Group 2 (WG2), which is charged with establishing a new, post-Grenfell competence regime for installers, which Dame Judith…

Tracy Burrell is senior HR business partner at Ramboll Talented professionals may choose to pause their career for a variety of reasons, but returning to work after a prolonged absence can be a daunting prospect, with unclear pathways for doing so. Research from AIG Life found that women are three…

Simon Harris is senior director of operations at Randstad UK, Construction & Property Leo Quinn, the boss of Balfour Beatty, recently told the FT that he believes Britain is in for a decade-long infrastructure boom. He has a point – the government forecasts £650bn worth of investment in infrastructure over the…

Graham Harle is chief executive of Gleeds Worldwide One of the most memorable scenes in Jaws reveals the size of the fearsome beast, triggering the movie’s most famous line: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” The same could be said of the construction industry as we face the rather more…