Member Article

Brickies and carpenters badly needed in North West

National Apprenticeship Week: construction apprentice numbers surge

But forecasts show brickies and carpenters are badly needed to drive North West comeback

The building trades most in demand in the North West over the next five years have been revealed by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), as new research shows the number of construction firms taking on apprentices is up by a third in the past year.

The highest demand over the next five years in the region will be for bricklayers, with 850 needed each year, and carpenters, with 750 needed. Other in-demand trades include plasterers, and painters and decorators.

These jobs figures, released ahead of National Apprenticeship Week (9-13 March), are backed by a CITB survey of 1,500 employers, which reveals:

the percentage of firms taking on apprentices is up 30%, with one in four (26%) firms taking on apprentices in 2014 compared with one in five (20%) in 2013. 25% of companies say they are likely to take on apprentices in 2015 - down slightly from 27% in 2013, but significantly higher than 15% in 2011.

A massive 75% of firms reported that they are either satisfied or very satisfied with their apprentices, demonstrating the vital contribution young people are making to the industry. Just one in five (20%) were dissatisfied and 5% were neutral.

Two years of sustained growth is bringing better times to the North West – with 4,790 construction jobs expected to be created every year in the region for the next five years.

The industry in the region is expected to benefit from annual growth of 2.5% following an investment in the private housing and commercial sectors.

This means that exciting projects such as the £125m Project Jennifer in Liverpool, the redevelopment of Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium, and in Manchester, the ten-year £1bn partnership between the City Council and the Abu Dhabi United Group to build 6,000 new homes. As well as headline projects in Liverpool and Manchester, the strength of the housing sector and the planned work on the new Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Carrington Power Station will require a significant number of skilled workers each year.

Mick Hamill, Regional Delivery Manager for the North West at CITB, said:

“These figures reveal that as our industry returns to growth, more apprentices are being recruited and are making a real difference to businesses.

“But the skills gap remains a threat to the comeback in the North West. During National Apprenticeship Week we want talented young people to consider a rewarding career in construction – as our figures show, brilliant opportunities are out there.

“With our forecast showing that over 200,000 jobs are to be created in construction over the next five years, many more firms need to take on apprentices so that our industry can deliver all of the exciting projects in the pipeline.”

The survey underlines that the hunt for skilled workers is a growing concern for employers, with two out of five (40%) identifying it as their key business challenge when prompted. Just under a quarter (23%) of these employers say they are having to turn work down, and one in five (20%) are seeing projects over-run and miss deadlines because of skills shortages. Meanwhile in a clear indication of a return to growth in the sector, only a quarter of employers (24%) say that the need to increase sales is a challenge, down from 43% in 2013.

For further information on the forecast for the North West, please visit http://www.citb.co.uk/research/construction-skills-network/north-west/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cain Wilkes .