Building trades

The British construction industry has an annual turnover of £200 billion, generating nearly 9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and more than 8 per cent of gross value added (GVA), three times that of agriculture and larger than any single manufacturing industry. It accounts for half the UK’s total investment and employs around 2.5 million people in more than 700 different types of job. Construction output is set to rise considerably, requiring a further 87,600 new industry entrants per year to 2011.

There are 250,000 construction firms in the UK (95 per cent of which employ fewer than ten people), 23,500 professional practices, and significant skills gaps. More than 80 per cent of its workers are self-employed (35 per cent) or in small firms, subcontracted to major companies. In order to achieve its target of a fully qualified workforce by 2010, it needs to qualify 100,000 workers each year to NVQ 2 level.

Skills analysis reveals a significant shortage in managerial positions. Although the highest skills requirement is for workers with wood trade skills, there is also demand for managers, clerical staff, architects, engineers, and other design and technical professionals. In total, the number of white-collar workers the industry needs to recruit every year to 2010 is forecast to be over 36,000.

Construction growth is expected to shift from the north to the south and east, driven by new builds that include £36 billion of large (£100 million-plus) projects, including the King’s Cross redevelopment, ports projects at Shellhaven, Felixstowe and Harwich, the East London Line extension, Victoria Station redevelopment, and the Olympics and Thames Gateway construction programmes. The recent drought and floods underline the need for further construction effort due to environmental and climatic pressures.

Building trades in the Services

Apart from a handful of people employed in units to carry out minor carpentry and repair jobs, and Army pioneers who have basic building skills, all three Services rely on the Royal Engineers for construction. Non-commissioned ranks will have completed anything from NVQs at Level 2 in basic training and Level 3 after higher training, to an Apprenticeship. Trades vary from surveyor to plant operator, and from draughtsman to bricklayer.

Careers

Craftsmen and women are the people who actually make things. Some major skills in which they are trained include:

• electrical installation and maintenance
• plumbing
• bricklaying
• plastering
• woodworking
• gas installation and maintenance.

We will now look at each of these in turn.

Electrical installation and maintenance

Electrical engineers deal with power generation and power supply. Modern manufacturing techniques tend to make replacement of a faulty component more cost-effective for the consumer than mending it in situ. Much of the traditional role of the maintenance engineer has therefore changed, with removal and re-installation the norm.

For electrical engineering, the basic requirement is 16th Edition Wiring Regulations. This shows that the individual knows the necessary regulations and how to use them, and it is virtually impossible to start in the industry without it. The next step is the Inspection and Testing of Electrical Installation City & Guilds 2391 qualification. Many people starting in the industry have academic qualifications and, to progress, further academic and vocational qualifications are recommended.

Plumbing

Plumbers install central heating systems, controls and pipework; sanitary systems; drainage systems; guttering and rainwater systems. Heating systems may be powered using electricity, gas, oil or solid fuel. Sometimes refrigeration and water purification systems are also fitted. Maintenance work includes routine servicing and emergency repairs. Repair work involves finding faults, replacing or repairing damaged parts, carrying out tests and making sure everything works properly. A range of hand and power tools are used to cut, bend and join metal and plastic pipes.

There are approximately 28,000 plumbers in the UK. Most work directly for a plumbing or maintenance firm, while some, particularly in the domestic sector, are self-employed. Plumbers work in a team or alone, and, on domestic repair and maintenance, they tend to deal directly with clients.

Bricklaying

This is probably the job that most people think of in connection with building trades. However, bricklayers use many different types of material to create different effects (such as ornamental walls and vaulted archways). Bricklayers also use a variety of specialist tools to spread mortar, cut bricks or blocks to size, and to check that walls are perfect. They should enjoy working outdoors and not mind working at heights. They must also be physically fit, careful, accurate and able to follow detailed instructions from architects. Bricklayers often travel around the country, and sometimes abroad.

Wage rates are set annually by the Building and Allied Trades Joint Industrial Council. Overtime and incentives are often available, and bricklayers often progress to technical, supervisory and managerial roles.

Plastering

Most people know about plasterers applying wet finishes to walls, ceilings and floors; this is known as solid plastering. Fibrous plastering involves making ornamental plasterwork in a workshop – the kind you might see on the ceilings of decorative buildings. Plasterers have to be prepared to work at heights, and will spend most of their time indoors. Again, wage rates are set annually by the Building and Allied Trades Joint Industrial Council.

Currently, demand for skilled labour outstrips supply so overtime and incentives are often available. Payment to sub-contract labour tends to be on an agreed price per linear metre of partition installed, so speed and accuracy can be important. The work provides a high level of job satisfaction, with plasterers often progressing to higher roles or even owning their own companies.

Carpentry and joinery

Carpenters and joiners prepare and put in place most of the wooden parts of buildings – from floorboards and roof trusses to expertly crafted windows and doors. They use very specialised woodworking tools and work with many different kinds of wood. They often work in teams and have to be able to calculate angles and dimensions to make sure everything fits. They need mathematical aptitude and generally have to be just as good with their heads as their hands.

Wage rates are set annually by the Building and Allied Trades Joint Industrial Council, with overtime and incentives often available. Carpenters and joiners sometimes move into other allied occupations including formworking, shopfitting, bench joinery, maintenance work and interior systems installation; some move into management or run their own businesses.

Gas installation and maintenance

Energy & Utility Skills Limited (the Sector Skills Council for electricity, gas, waste management and water) is developing a set of occupational standards and qualifications at Levels 1 to 4. The objective is that the qualifications that result will be as common as possible across the industries concerned to enable workers freedom of employment in the entire sector.

Anyone working on gas appliances or fittings as a business must be competent and registered with the Council of Registered Gas Installers (CORGI). Competency can be proved under the Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS). CORGI provides a route to ACS through a distance learning programme. ACS has a two-day core domestic gas safety assessment and a number of appliance assessments that take half a day each. A competent student should take five days to pass the full domestic suite of qualifications.

Training

Many of these trades are learnt on the job, but the construction industry has training schemes that combine working and education to produce qualifications that the individual can build up over time to develop expertise in a particular area. While one person might start by learning the basics of a trade, and go on to become an expert in a particular part of it, another might build a portfolio in a number of skills to qualify them for supervisory and then general management.

ConstructionSkills is the Sector Skills Council for many building trades. Its National Construction College is a network of colleges training and assessing construction skills throughout the UK. It is increasingly becoming necessary to hold registration or certification of competence and/or training in particular aspects of building skills to obtain employment in the industry.

The industry has its own vocational qualifications, Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships, and a construction apprentice scheme for the younger entrant. Ambitious people can start by gaining vocational qualifications in any of these trades while working as a craftsman or woman, develop their skills through technical training, perhaps gaining certificates or diplomas, eventually becoming fully professionally qualified, with a degree.

Contact details

Electrical installation and maintenance

SEMTA (Sector Skills Council for Science Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies), 14 Upton Road, Watford, Herts WD18 0JT Tel: 01923 238441 Website: www.semta.org.uk

Joint Industry Board, Kingswood House, 47/51 Sidcup Hill, Sidcup, Kent DA14 6HP Tel: 020 8302 0031 Website: www.jib.org.uk

JTL National Administration Centre, Unit 3H1, Third Floor, Redwither Tower, Redwither Business Park, Wrexham LL13 9XT Tel: 0800 0852308 Website: www.jtlimited.co.uk

Plumbing, bricklaying, plastering, woodworking

ConstructionSkills, Bircham Newton, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6RH Tel: 01485 577577 Website: www.constructionskills.net

Plumbing

SummitSkills Limited (Sector Skills Council for the electrotechnical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration and plumbing industries), Vega House, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes MK15 0DF Tel: 01908 303960 Website: www.summitskills.org.uk

Gas installation and maintenance

Energy & Utility Skills Limited, Friars Gate Two, 1011 Stratford Road, Shirley, Solihull B90 4BN Tel: 0845 077 9922 Website: www.euskills.co.uk

Council of Registered Gas Installers, 1 Elmwood, Chineham Park, Crockford Lane, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 8WG Tel: 0870 401 2200 Website: www.trustcorgi.com