Following repeated calls from leaders within the construction industry, the Home Office has finally announced it is easing visa restrictions for brickies, roofers and chippies from overseas by adding them to the UK’s Shortage Occupation List (SOL).
This list is designed to help sectors where employers are struggling to fill vacancies and the move to include more construction trades has been welcomed by the Construction Leadership Council as a solution to addressing immediate skills shortages in the UK. Find out more in this week’s quick-read blog.
Today (20th June) is World Refugee Day, a moment when people are invited to not only consider the plight and dismal conditions faced by millions of refugees around the world, but also to celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home countries to escape disaster, conflict or persecution.
Offering the tagline ‘Hope away from Home. A world where refugees are always included’, this year’s theme made us wonder what the inclusion of refugees has meant for the UK in general and how it might work within industries like construction. Read this week’s blog to find out more.
Over a quarter of a million extra construction workers may be needed by 2026, according to the latest Construction Skills Network report. That’s over 53,000 new recruits per year for the next five years!
Published annually by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the report looks into the UK’s construction economy and makes key predictions about what will happen in terms of labour/ skills needs over the coming years.
Check out this week’s blog for more details of what this year’s report had to say plus what it means for the sector and our region.
Today is International Women’s Day, a day in which people across the globe come together to celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness of issues affecting women and girls, and take action which promotes greater equality.
This year, the campaign has the theme of #BreakTheBias. So, taking this as our inspiration, in this week’s blog, we’re looking at some of the key issues which affect women who enter the historically male-dominated trades within the built environment. Read on for some startling truths!
In last week’s blog, we talked about several upcoming trends in construction with an increase in the use of robots being one of the things many people in the industry are expecting to see this year.
Just a week later, we hear news of an innovative bricklaying robot that’s just secured accreditation from the housing warranty and insurance provider, NHBC.
Could the rise of the robots be about to begin? Keep reading to find out more…