Balfour Beatty sets out its vision for industry transformation in the face of current skills shortage
14 May 2019
Balfour Beatty today publishes the latest of its policy papers, “Transforming infrastructure: Skills for the UK’s megaprojects.”
With the construction and infrastructure industry rapidly scaling up for some of the most ambitious schemes in the UK’s history, and with a 20-25% decline predicted in the workforce within a decade[1], Balfour Beatty sets out how industry and Government can bridge the significant skills shortage the sector is currently facing to enable the delivery of the current pipeline of mega infrastructure projects.
In its paper, Balfour Beatty outlines 11 key points and recommendations to help address this critical issue which include ensuring that the immigration system and the Apprenticeship Levy are fit for purpose, increasing productivity through offsite and modular building and improving industry coordination and diversity while enabling workers to move between schemes.
Dean Banks, Chief Executive Officer of Balfour Beatty’s UK Construction Services business, said: “The serious skills shortage our industry is currently experiencing is putting the delivery of critical infrastructure schemes at risk; driving increased wage costs and project delays.
“If the industry is to attract a future workforce of engineers, construction workers and new entrants, industry and Government must increase productivity whilst simultaneously improving diversity to represent the communities in which we operate.”
To read the paper in full, please click here.
Image: Aerial view of the T2B project at Heathrow Airport
[1] Modernise or Die, Construction Leadership Council, October 2016
ENDS
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Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty (balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 26,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
- Our main geographies are the UK, US and Hong Kong. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.