Rebecca Rickwood, Chief Executive of Gement, states that, in recent years, the UK construction industry has seen a marked decline in the number of its workers. Read on for her solution to plug this skills gap…
Seasoned construction employees are retiring, and there currently aren’t enough young people choosing to enter the industry to replace them.
Coupled with the recent loss of a significant number of EU workers (amounting to a 43% decline), the industry desperately needs new workers to fill the empty spaces on site.
The questions we need to be asking ourselves are:
- How are we playing our part to make construction a more inclusive industry?
- How can we make construction more appealing to young people entering the industry?
- And why are more people leaving the industry than entering?
Changing the construction industry’s values
Gement was founded with an aim to disrupt the construction industry and change the industry’s general perception to reflect its new values.
We are all familiar with construction being behind other industries in terms of inclusivity, innovation and technology.
To plug this skills gap and shortage of staff, Gement runs a series of not-for-profit educational programmes designed to introduce the construction industry and the careers it has to offer to a diverse group of people.
The aims of these programmes are to bolster and diversify the industry’s workforce with fresh talent.
From our company’s outset, we have believed in the importance of inclusivity and diversity, and we have been working to promote these values in construction.
By investing time and effort into our non-profit activity, we hope to give back to the industry in which we operate by actively increasing interest in the UK construction industry’s career opportunities on offer, thereby combatting the skills shortage that the industry is facing.
Combatting skills shortage with educational programmes
We partner with a range of companies in the construction industry to deliver hour-long introductory workshops and day-in-industry experiences for students from a range of educational institutions across the UK.
Our partners provide an overview of their place in the industry, facilitate Q&A sessions, and present the range of employment opportunities that they and similar companies can offer.
These sessions have a proven record of increasing interest in the industry – following participation in our programmes in 2021, we have seen an increase of 128% in those applying for construction industry vacancies – and we have used our expertise in talent acquisition to turn that interest into real working experience.
All of our educational programs are not-for-profit enterprises and are completely free to those who take part. As of 2022, our educational programmes are available to a wide range of students who want to experience the world of construction and learn about the opportunities the industry can offer.
We work with any company offering apprenticeships, internships and graduate schemes to students and we’re partnered with over 30 UK educational institutions, supporting above 500,000 students.
The sector is slowly transitioning to a more sustainable, diverse employer, with career opportunities for people qualified in a wide range of disciplines.
And through the work we do at Gement, individuals who have never given a career in construction a second thought might give it some genuine consideration and ultimately choose it as the path that is right for them.
Ultimately, we aim to provide the industry with a wide selection of fantastic talent, from both experienced workers and enthusiastic new entrants.
Rebecca Rickwood is Chief Executive of Gement and a director of A3CM. Rebecca’s chemistry research background focused on the atomic structure of geopolymer cement – she later gained funding and worked on manufacturing an AACM. As part of A3CM, Rebecca sits on the BSI committee of B/517/1.