Highlands could benefit from £5.4 million for construction training hubs
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MORE than £5 million is to be spent on creating three new construction sector training hubs – one of them hopefully in the Highlands.
If a north application to run one of the hubs is successful, it will be one of three funded by a £5.4 million injection of support for training and retraining more skilled workers. The hubs are intended to expand opportunities for employment through onsite experience in mostly rural areas.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), which is behind the Onsite Experience programme, says the Highlands and Islands has been identified as an area in specific need of investment, so any bids focused on the region would be particularly welcome.
The investment will build on the success of the Construction Skills Fund (CSF) in England, and represents a historic investment in training a site-ready workforce for construction employers.
CITB’s Construction Skills Network report shows construction requires 168,500 skilled people to enter the industry over the next five years, including 13,950 in Scotland, where the sector is forecast to grow by 0.5 per cent.
Ian Hughes, CITB partnerships director for Scotland, said: “This major cash injection will give the Scottish construction industry a real boost, specifically within Highlands and Islands, Borders, and rural East Scotland.”
Over the next three years, the Onsite Experience Commission will help the construction industry tackle the skills gap by providing 18,000 site-ready workers and help it to grow more of its own workforce.
The three Scottish hubs will be among a total of 20 across Britain which are tailored to provide training in trades where particular shortages have been identified and connecting new talent with educators and employers.
CITB chief executive Sarah Beale said: “This is a key part of our strategy to help construction recruit its future workforce.
“We face the perfect storm of an uncertain post-Brexit migration system, and an ageing workforce with many set to retire in the near future. It is therefore essential that the industry attracts, trains, and retains new talent wherever it can be found to ensure construction isn’t hampered by a shortage of site-ready workers.”
Funding applications for potential hub operators are now being invited, with an October 11 deadline.
