Wales
‘IN A GOOD
PLACE’
says BESA
P resident
The outlook for the industry in Wales is extremely
promising, according to the president of the Build-
ing Engineering Services Association (BESA).
Malcolm Thomson told an industry audience that
Wales was “in a good place” despite the “cloud of
uncertainty swirling around the wider economy as
we prepare for yet another election and the dread-
ed ‘Brexit’ talks”.He pointed to major infrastruc-
ture projects like the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon
and “an extremely ambitious plan” to build 20,000
new affordable homes backed by a £1.5bn finance
package supported by the Welsh
Government.
Mr Thomson said he had detected a real deter-
mination in Wales “to make sure your develop-
ment plans are not knocked off course by events
elsewhere”. However, he warned that major
projects would put pressure on the pool of availa-
ble skilled labour and urged the country to match
investment in projects and planning with a signif-
icant investment in bringing new people and new
skills into the industry.
According to recent research carried out by
BESA Training, the building engineering sector
in Wales has enjoyed significant growth in man-
power demand over the last 10 years. The rate of
growth will slow a little over the next five years,
but demand for mechanical trades will continue to
rise by up to 11% between now and 2020 and for
electricians by approximately 9%.
Mr Thomson told the annual BESA Wales din-
ner that this made it extremely important for the
industry to “grow its own talent” and make full use
the targeted training courses and funding streams
now emerging for apprenticeships.
“When it comes to funding for training, we must
use it or lose it – that’s the deal,” he said. “Funding
is coming through and it is up to us, as employers,
to make sure that money stays in our sector and
helps finance the pipeline of talent that will be
needed to deliver all these exciting new projects.”
The Association’s Head of Wales Catherine Grif-
fith-Williams echoed the President’s comments
and said this was a great opportunity for BESA
members.
“MEP and building engineering apprentice-
ships are an ideal way of supplying the competent
workforce we will need for the exciting wave of in-
vestment coming into Wales over the next couple
of years,” she said.