The UK has voted in the referendum and we’ve decided to leave the EU. This decision affects us all and time will tell.
For construction the significance is immediate. We have struggled with skills shortages for years but now we can no longer just buy those skills in from other places. We have got to solve the skills gap ourselves, starting right now.
Construction is a robust sector, literally and metaphorically, we have overcome challenges before and I have no doubt we will overcome this one. What is so important is that we take responsibility for the skills gap – each and every one of us – right now.
If you’re not involved in addressing the skills gap as an individual, I urge you to take action. Talk to your colleagues, discuss ways forward and be part of the solution. If it’s something your company already does, that’s great too, but what are you doing personally? At the risk of sounding like a cliché, if you’re not part of the solution you are part of the problem. I’m not sugar-coating it anymore. Nobody is going to do this for us and now more than ever the impact of the skills gap will be felt across construction.
Whilst the skills gap has an impact on our existing need to build (particularly housing) for the UK it also has a massive impact on each and every one of us as individuals – the homes we live in, the buildings that we work in, the places where we shop. These things impact on us all directly and the UK must overcome this challenge right now to ensure that we still create things worth building, wherever the funding is coming from in the future.
If you’re not part of my programme to tackle the skills shortage that’s fine, but please make sure that you are involved in *something*. There are many reasons why you might have struggled to reach educators before, so please talk to people involved in addressing the skills gap, as they’ll be able to help you navigate around those problems. It’s what we do, and we’re a great source of advice!
Every single person in construction right now, as of today, has a responsibility for solving the skills gap in construction. Do a Google search, find what’s out there and get involved. It is no longer an option to sit back and wait for someone else to do it for you.