Helping to improve skills and training in construction

Barry Neilson provides an update on CITB-ConstructionSkills NI’s training programmes.

There is no doubt that the recession has hit construction extremely hard and the industry has gone through five years of steep decline. However, the industry is changing at a pace and modest levels of growth are expected between now and 2017.

Skills and training are the central core of our business, we at CITB-ConstructionSkills NI understand the importance of training and the positive effect it can have both internally and externally. We also are aware of the current economic climate and understand that in the downturn training is not always top of the business agenda. Our aim is to help invest in industry skills and training to make businesses competitive, now and in the future.

Construction is crucial to the success of our economic revival. The industry has built our homes, our hospitals, our schools, our roads, our railways, our workplaces, our airports, our greatest cathedrals and historic buildings. These buildings and landmarks that are developed will be here long after they have been constructed allowing us to make our mark on the landscape. Even in the heart of economic decline some innovative construction projects have emerged such as the Titanic Signature Building, the Causeway Visitors Centre and the Peace Bridge to name a few.

It is essential that CITB-ConstructionSkills NI continues to support the industry in developing the highly skilled professionals it needs to meet the immediate challenges and prepare for the future.

We encourage the industry to undertake training and make use of our £1.1 million grant scheme to help improve skills and prepare for the industry returning to growth. We can help meet training requirements onsite with our Mobile Training Unit which provides short duration health and safety courses such as confined spaces, excavations and working at heights.

In order to boost skills and qualifications within the local construction industry we have been working in partnership with other organisations to gain funding to focus on specialisms. The Qualifying the Exisitng Workforce project is, a joint initiative between CITB-ConstructionSkills NI and the Joint Council for the Building and Civil Engineering Industry is funded by the Department for Employment and Learning. This project will qualify 500 currently unqualified construction workers to NVQ Level 2, we are currently on target to achieve the numbers and a second phase of the project will begin in March focusing on a further 1,000 qualifications.

With green technologies and environmental changes leading the way to the future, CITB-ConstructionSkills NI recently sent 30 local construction workers to Biberach in Germany to learn more about sustainable construction methods, renewable energy and environmental standards. The ‘Building Skills for Sustainable Construction’ project is organised by CITB-ConstructionSkills NI and funded by the European Commission’s Leonardo programme which is managed by Ecorys in the UK. A second phase of funding has been released and a further 30 construction workers will travel back to Biberach in 2014.

CITB-ConstructionSkills NI has also been working hard to maintain and develop skills in the heritage sector. Funding was received from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) through its Skills for the Future Programme to continue and expand on work to sustain and develop traditional skills in the local built heritage sector. Further funding support of £368,000 has been secured through HLF for the Heritage Specialist Apprenticeship Programme in Wood Occupations in Northern Ireland. Twelve apprentices will receive bespoke, structured training and assessment leading to the achievement of the Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Heritage Skills (Construction) – Wood Occupations. The apprentices will receive both on and off the job training with experienced heritage contractors and the training programme is expected to commence in September 2014.

We not only focus on the existing construction workforce but also the youth market who are are future. We are piloting a Shared Apprentice scheme amongst the industry and young people. We continuously promote construction career opportunities to the youth market through careers fairs and construction ambassadors.

We host the annual NI Skillbuild competition and work closely with the local colleges to prepare apprentices to compete on a national and world stage. At the recent Skills Show, construction apprentices were awarded with five gold, two silver and one bronze medals were awarded in skills ranging from carpentry to wall and floor tiling. Three members of the team were also highly commended in carpentry, electrical installation and joinery.

For information on these projects and more, log on to www.citbcsni.org.uk or like us on www.facebook.com/CITBConstructionSkillsNI