Construction Industry

The British construction industry is growing steadily, contributing over 8 per cent of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product and with an annual output of £812 billion, three times that of agriculture and larger than any single manufacturing industry. Over the next five years the government plans to spend £76 billion on new homes, roads, schools and hospitals, not to mention the infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic Games. The industry is the country’s biggest employer, with one in every 14 workers, about 2 million people, working in it. This includes 200,000 women (1 per cent of tradespeople and 12 per cent of designers and managers).

The sector contains 175,000 businesses (95 per cent of which employ fewer than 10 people) and 23,500 professional practices. This means that more than 80 per cent of all its workers are self-employed or in small firms, sub-contracted to major companies. Three-quarters of its organisations do not invest in training, so 500,000 construction workers have no formal Level 2 qualification; this is the minimum level to work on a site, demanded by government regulation by 2010. A programme of on-site assessment and training is bringing 100,000 workers up to this standard each year.

The industry will need an extra 440,000 or so skilled tradesmen and women in 700 different types of job over the next five years (88,000 every year) to replace retiring workers and increase the overall workforce. The industry also needs to recruit many more women and people from minority ethnic groups to reflect the population mix, while there is a shortfall in the number of recruits entering construction trades from formal training schemes.

The heritage sector builds traditional-style structures for everyday use, as well as maintaining grand houses, cathedrals and castles. A wide range of craft skills are used in this sector, with the challenge of keeping these skills alive requiring more people to become proficient in them.

Every construction starts as an idea in a designer’s mind, which is then translated into a detailed computer image while planners, engineers and financial experts work on costs and schedules.

Next, surveyors and engineers prepare the site for construction, measuring and marking precisely where everything will go. Then the hundreds of skilled workers and managers transform the site into a finished product where people use it for the purpose for which it was designed. And for years afterwards maintenance, refurbishment and restoration work keep the structure fit for its original purpose. Kitchen installation, patios and conservatories, garages and car ports, asphalting and driveways, secondary double glazing, painting and decorating, and landscape gardening are also examples of construction skills.

Construction 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 including airfield and port repair and maintenance. The latter is greatly helped in these tasks by its TA element, including specialist teams and civil affairs experts.

Officers will generally have a first degree in an engineering discipline, on-the-job training and experience, postgraduate qualifications and membership of civilian institutions. Their experience of managing what in effect are engineering projects may well be particularly attractive to any future employer.

Non-commissioned ranks will have completed anything from NVQs at Level 2 in basic training and Level 3 after higher training, to a Modern Apprenticeship or, in the case of a Clerk of Works, an MSc. Trades vary from surveyor to plant operator, and from draughtsman to bricklayer.

Professional and management careers

People employed at this level will usually be qualified as one of the following:

• architect
• architectural technologist
• building control surveyor
• building engineer
• building services engineer
• building surveyor
• civil engineer
• construction manager
• facilities manager
• general practice surveyor
• geomatics surveyor
• geospatial modeller
• geotechnical engineer
• hydrographic surveyor
• landscape architect
• land surveyor
• project manager
• quantity surveyor
• structural engineer
• town planner.

Entry to the industry at this level requires academic qualifications. These can be:

• National Certificate (NC), National Diploma (ND), Vocational A-level/Vocational Certificate of Education Advanced Level (AVCE) or General Scottish Vocational Qualification Level 3
• Higher National Certificate (HNC) or Higher National Diploma (HND)
• Foundation degree
• honours degree (BA, BSc, BEng or MEng) – usually in subjects like civil and structural engineering or construction management.

NC, ND, Vocational A-level and GSVQ Level 3 are college qualifications in construction-related subjects such as building studies or construction and the built environment, and roughly equate to A-level. Courses can be full- or part-time and can last two years. To start such training you need four good GCSEs, or equivalent, or vocational qualifications.

HNC and HND are, again, gained through college or university. HNCs are usually part-time with HNDs being full-time; both can take two or three years to complete. Entry to an HNC or HND course needs A-levels, or equivalent, or a vocational qualification at the right level (NC, ND, Vocational A-level/AVCE or GSVQ Level 3). People qualified at this level usually start as advanced technicians or trainee managers and work towards professional qualifications such as Incorporated Engineer. Some could have started in craft apprenticeships and worked their way up from there.

Foundation degrees take two years to complete full-time or three to four years part-time, and provide entry to the third year of honours degrees. The latter degrees take three to four years to complete full-time, and five or more years part-time. Entry is through A-levels, or equivalent, and an application through UCAS or direct to the Open University. Vocational A-levels/AVCEs and GSVQ Level 3 are welcomed by some institutions while HNCs and HNDs can enable an individual to enter the second or third year of a degree course.

Graduates coming into the industry usually join a specially tailored training scheme leading to such professional qualifications as Chartered Engineer or Chartered Surveyor.

Technical careers

Technicians generally make things happen by combining theory with practice. They can be qualified in any of the areas appropriate for professional and management careers or as a:

• architectural technician
• buyer
• CAD operative
• estimator
• planner
• plant technical support
• roofing technician
• site engineer
• site inspector
• site technical support.

To start training and/or do a college course requires four GCSEs, or equivalent, at Grade C; with maths, English and the sciences being the preferred subjects. However, some people start training with A-levels and others qualify through craft skills, often attending an FE college to gain national qualifications, Vocational A-Levels/AVCEs or GNVQs. Still others enter with NCs/NDs or vocational qualifications. They can then grow qualifications to Levels 3, 4 and 5.

Craft careers

Craftsmen and women are the people who actually make things. Some major jobs for which they and other levels of the industry are trained include:

• interior and finishing

– ceiling fixer

– dry liner

– floor layer

– glazier

– painter and decorator

– partitioner

– plasterer

– plumber

– renderer

– wall and floor tiler

• plant

– plant hire controller

– plant mechanic

– plant operator

– plant sales people

• roofing

– built up felt roofer

– lead sheeter

– liquid waterproofing system operative

– mastic asphalter

– roof sheeter and cladder

– roof slater and tiler

– single ply roofer

• demolition

– demolition operative

– scaffolder

– steel erector

– steeplejack

• trowel

– bricklayer

– construction operative

– stonemason

• wood

– bench joiner

– carpenter and joiner

– formworker

– shop fitter

– wood machinist.

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. (A good basic education including English and maths is recommended.) For example, a plasterer might start by learning the basics of plastering walls, but go on to become an expert in ornate ceiling and wall decoration in expensive houses. Other people might build a portfolio in a number of skills to qualify them for supervisory and then general management.

The Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB-ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council) National Construction College is a network of colleges training and assessing construction skills throughout the UK. It is increasingly necessary to be registered or hold a certificate of competence and/or training to obtain employment in the industry.

The industry has its own vocational qualifications and Apprenticeships at Advanced and Apprentice level. People can gain vocational qualifications while working as a craftsman/woman, and develop their skills through technical training, perhaps gaining certificates or diplomas, eventually becoming fully professionally qualified, with a degree. Entry to these schemes requires reasonable maths and English ability, while more than 90 higher education and 400 further education colleges offer courses in construction and the built environment.

Contact details

CITB-ConstructionSkills, Bircham Newton, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6RH Tel: 01485 577577 Website: www.citb-constructionskills.co.uk (National Construction College, Tel: 08457 336666)

Been there done that…

Wayne Carlyon

Ex-Warrant Officer Class 2 Wayne Carlyon from the Royal Engineers is now Construction Site Manager, implementing the DII(F) passive infrastructure within MoD sites in the north of England. He undertakes regular site inspections to assess compliance, maintenance of health and safety standards, and measurement and testing of completed installations. He enjoys the variation in the work from site to site, and the interaction between contractors and client.

He left the Army, aged 40, last year after completing his 22-year contract, specialising as a combat engineer, and in command, control and communication systems, serving throughout the world. He values his management and general construction experience, and has three Level 4 management qualifications to his name.

A Career Transition Workshop ‘gave a good insight into interview technique and CV writing’, while ‘a five-week CTTS telecommunications course was ‘well run and useful, and I use the knowledge I gained every day in my current job’. He is now studying for an IT systems engineer diploma.

The company he works for actively recruited from CTTS, so he heard about the job, ‘applied, and was offered the job. There is very little scope to settle in and learn, you are off from day one and expected to know what you’re doing. The way you deal with contractors and suppliers is critical. An error of judgement can have massive financial implications.’