20
FEBRUARY 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
STUDENTS TOLD THEY ARE ‘TOO
CLEVER’ FOR CONSTRUCTION
Young people are being told by teachers and parents that they are “too clever”
to pursue a career in construction, according to a recent survey.
The survey by the Edge
Foundation found that
youngsters are being actively discouraged from opting
for vocational education.
Some 36%of students who
pursued a vocational route were
advised by school that they
would be ‘more successful’ if they
chose the academic pathway and
almost a quarter (22%) were told
that they were ‘too clever’ for
vocational education.
Subcontractors
call for late
payment summit
Trade contractors hit by late
payments are calling for the
Government to set up a summit
to name and shame major firms
into paying their bills on time.
The call for action
came as the industry responded to the
Government’s latest
consultation on late
payment.
The National Specialist
Contractors Council said:
“There is a real opportunity at this moment in time
fundamentally to change the
payment culture in the UK.
“We saw a similar response at the Construction
Health and Safety Summit
called by the Government
over 10 years ago when the
industry was held to account and told to improve
its health and safety perfor-
‘As long as
late payment
is socially
acceptable, it
will continue to
be a problem’
mance or legislation would
be implemented.
“Since then, the construction health and safety
record has improved dramatically and the fatality
rate fallen by almost two
thirds.
“The industry can change
its behaviour; it just needs
clear direction and a sanction to make it happen.
“As long as late payment
is socially acceptable and
public sector contracts
are awarded to companies known for their poor
payment practices, it will
continue to be a problem.
“Late payment should
become socially unacceptable and companies should
be publicly ‘named and
shamed’ on their payment
performance .
“This should include both
average contractual payment terms and the average number of days that a
company takes to actually
make payment.”
Only 51% of parents encouraged their child’s choice to
pursue vocational qualifications –
compared to three quarters who
were happy to support their child
through an academic route.
The survey found that those
who chose vocational qualifications are just as satisfied with
their careers as people who went
down the academic route.
Lifetime earnings of a graduate
are comparable with the lifetime
earnings of many former apprentices – average construction
apprentices earn £1,504,000 during their careers compared with
£1,612,000 for a graduate.
Jan Hodges,CEO of the Edge
Foundation, said: “It is disappointing that so few parents and
teachers see vocational education
as being worthwhile, when in
fact both routes result in similar
levels of happiness, job satisfaction and financial gain.
“The stigma attached to vocational learning is old-fashioned
and unjust.
“A skilled workforce is essential to the UK economy and high
quality vocational routes need to
be available and encouraged.”
COULD IT BE
THIRD TIME LUCKY
FOR JABLITE?
Jablite is celebrating
being shortlisted for the
Manufacturer of the Year in
the 2014 Building Awards.
“This is our third time
to be shortlisted for
this award, so let’s
hope we are lucky this
time,” says Richard
Lee, Managing Director
of Jablite (pictured).
“We had a great year in
2013 and I am very pleased
that our efforts are recognised by the Building
Awards again.
“We developed two
outstanding brand-new insulation products. Flat Roof
Profiled+ is a lightweight,
reinforced, EPS (expanded
polystyrene) over-roof insulation system.
“Our latest new product
is the first tapered insulation for inverted roofs; it
enables a fall to be created
with the insulation and
makes a screed layer unnecessary.”
Jablite aims to become
the UK insulation manufacturer known for innovation and integrity. In 2013
Jablite was the first manufacturer to offer an insulation product manufactured
to an accuracy of 1mm.
“We want to give our
customers the best choices
possible. Having a 1mm
specification option can
offer a huge cost saving
on some projects and it
puts the specifier and the
contractor in control.
“For the same reason, in
2013, we started a debate
on whether 300 grade
insulation is necessary
for inverted roofs. Our
research shows that it is an
over-specification and in
most instances 200 grade
will provide the required
performance.
“Over-specifying is
uneconomic and, it is the
opposite of sustainable, as
it uses more material and
resource than is necessary to do the job. As a
responsible manufacturer
we want to be leading the
way in the development
of new and sustainable
insulation and hopefully
that approach will help us
to win this award,” says
Richard.
Richard is on the discussion panel of a seminar
entitled: Maximising building performance – could
product manufacturers
do more? at this year’s
ECOBUILD.
If you have views on this
discussion topic and you
would like to share them
with Richard before the
event please send them
to Richard at:r.lee@jablite.
co.uk
The Building Awards
2014 will take place on
2nd April at London’s
Grosvenor House Hotel.