18
JANUARY 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Addressing skills gap and
improving industry image will
be key for construction in 2015
Richard Threlfall, KPMG’s Head of Infrastructure, Building and Construction, highlights that in 2015 the construction
industry will need to address the widening skills gap and take further steps to improve the image of the industry. He said:
“Many in the industry
are nervous about what
the General Election
will mean for construction, but I am confident
we will not see a repeat
of the mass cancellation of schemes that
took place in 2010.
“Our main political parties
understand the importance
of infrastructure investment
for driving the UK’s future
competitiveness. We estimate that by 2016, the country will be investing £45bn
per annum in infrastructure, and the Government’s
construction pipeline now
shows a total of £116bn of
spend over nearly 2,000
projects. But that does not
mean the industry can relax.
It has plenty of challenges,
but they are more subtle
than five years ago, and
‘150,000 more workers
will be needed on site’
more for the industry itself
to address.
“As early as April 2015, the
delivery of the UK construction pipeline will hit a constraint imposed not by lack
of political will or funding
but for lack of a sufficiently
large and trained workforce.
We estimate that by that
150,000 more workers will
be needed on site to deliver
major projects in London
and the South East. The industry is failing to hire sufficiently fast, and is failing
to train in sufficient volume,
the workforce it needs.
“The construction industry continues to struggle to
attract both the calibre and
the diversity of individuals
it needs. Careers advice,
from schools, parents and
peers is too often a cocktail
of prejudice and ignorance.
But the industry bears
much of the blame for
failing to proactively sell itself, and project a modern,
exciting, fulfilling image of
what life in construction
involves. Why does this
matter? Very simply our
country cannot afford to
fail to bring more talent
into our construction and
engineering industries. This
year, the industry needs to
work hard to change this
image.”
“As we head into 2015
we will have a much more
buoyant and competitive
market across infrastructure
and construction, with a
strong pipeline of projects.”
concluded Richard.
KPMG is proud to be
working at the heart of the
Infrastructure, Building and
Construction industry. Their
Infrastructure, Building &
Construction experts work
with policy makers, contractors, clients, investors,
lenders and all parts of the
supply chain, focussing
across all areas of the sector, to provide the support
needed to drive businesses
forward.
Bomb proof hardware helping to build safer places
Architectural hardware specialist, Barrier
Components Limited is delighted to see the new
Nottingham Station Transport Hub renovations
completed with their blast-enhanced hardware.
The glass façade was
installed by Red Systems who appointed
glazing and security
consultant Crossley
Consult Limited for
specialist design and
development activities. Together, they
selected Sadev glass
systems available from
Barrier Components.
The Sadev stainless steel
bolt fixed system is a
perfect solution for point
fixed glass facades. In this
case, the R1003BBR fixing
was used; a swivel fitting
with cylindrical head for
single laminated glazing.
The system is also avai