6
JUNE 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Bridging the Skills Gap
As you will doubtless have noticed, housing policy was a big feature of the recent General Election, with each
party seemingly trying to outbid the others on the number of houses they plan to build. Without a doubt
our growing population isn’t catered for too well in the housing stakes and therefore prices are on a steep
incline, both in terms of home ownership and the rental sector, so it makes sense that we build more homes.
Now, it’s all very well and
good that the powers that
be are pledging to address
the housing shortage but
there’s another shortage
that nobody’s really talking
about that will influence the
outcome: the skills shortage. Put simply, we’re not
training enough people in
the trades at present and, if
that remains the case, we’ll
struggle to build the houses
everyone agrees we need.
But one successful Derbyshire
businessman is planning to do
something about it. Ian Hodgkinson, who owns Hodgkinson
Builders in Pride Park, Derby has
teamed up with Derby College
to launch an innovative learning academy to tackle the skills
shortages facing the construction
industry. Opening its doors to
students this September, I was
lucky enough to be invited along
as a special guest to an open day
at The Hodgkinson Brickwork
Academy at the college’s Ilkeston
campus late last month to check
out what’s happening there. I was
more than impressed.
On the day there was a real mix
of people at the academy all trying taster sessions and experiencing a day in the life of a brickie.
You would normally expect to
see plenty of 14 and 15 year olds
at an event of this kind, looking
at their options for the future,
and, while there were scores of
school-leavers in attendance, I
was surprised and pleased to see
a good number of people in their
thirties and forties seeing if construction has something to offer
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‘Working together,
we will produce a
new generation of
talented, ambitious,
motivated and highly
skilled bricklayers
who can bridge
this skills gap’
them. The interest wasn’t just limited to men either, so it’s good to
see that our industry is breaking
down a few preconceptions from
the past.
I spoke to several prospective
students and the reaction to Ian’s
offering was universally positive.
As well as teaching practical
brickwork skills and the theory
that underpins those skills, Ian
and his team will offer students
individual support and mentoring
and ensure they have access to
the kind of quality PPE and durable work wear Blåkläder provide.
Not only that, but students will
gain the vital on-site work experience that will help them with
their qualifications.
You can’t qualify without on-site
assessment but, as things currently stand, colleges have difficulty
in finding placements for their
students. Hodgkinson Builders,
however, have a solution. They
have been aware of the skills
shortage for some time and specialise in supplying bricklayers
and other tradespeople to companies and projects in the Derbyshire area. With this in mind,
they also guarantee students a
job interview upon completion of
their one or two year course.
With their capabilities and a
strong base of willing clients,
they’re in a position to square the
circle, so to speak. Students get
the experience they need to qualify, companies get the human resources they require and, in time,
the skills shortage becomes less
of a problem. Hopefully, in this
way everyone will be a winner,
including wider society as capacity increases and upward pressure
on housing costs is eased. Perhaps, a bit further down the road,
those youngsters signing up for
September will find it a little easier to get on the housing ladder
themselves because that seems
to be out of reach for younger
generations at the minute.
Ian said: “If we can bring business experience and educational
programmes together, we can
create a pipeline of ‘oven-ready’
apprentices. Working together, we
will produce a new generation
of talented, ambitious, motivated
and highly skilled bricklayers
who can bridge this skills gap.”
For my part, I wholeheartedly
agree and I hope more initiatives
like The Hodgkinson Brickwork
Academy get off the ground. The
banks are making access to credit
a bit easier and the government is
helping out first-time buyers too,
but none of that will solve our
housing problems unless in Britain we foster the necessary skills
to build the homes we all need.
ADF PLASTICS LTD