Council's commitment to construction skills

Construction companies are being asked to help Plymouth City Council set up a scheme that puts skills into the heart of significant developments.

Big building firms as well as contractors are being asked for their input on how to ensure major developments have a commitment to increasing training and skills as part of planning negotiations.

The call has come from Plymouth City Council leader Tudor Evans at the official launch of Building Plymouth, a Council-led partnership with the local building industry to encourage more people to go into the construction and building.

He said: “The biggest impact that we as a Council can make to construction skills is by smarter use of the planning system.

“This affects all construction projects in the city, so I’d like to announce our commitment to make changes that will ensure a massive leap in skills investment and local recruitment across the city.”

“We have thousands of jobs on the horizon for building new homes, new business premises that will encourage companies to invest here and the ongoing regeneration of our city.

“But there is growing gap between the number of jobs available and the number of people able to fill them. It is vital that we take steps together to address this.

“We do not want to impose anything on business, rather we want to work with companies to draw up something that works; gives them a supply of eager, well-trained staff that will enable Plymouth to carry on with its ambitions to be a ‘vibrant waterfront city where an outstanding quality of life is enjoyed by everyone.”

The Council plans to work with the construction industry to make sure that a commitment to invest in local constructions skills will lead to more apprentices, more training and crucially, a local labour pool.

But it is anxious to get the details right so that the ‘skills dividend’ will not make projects unviable – and will also help the long term sustainability of construction in Plymouth.

The Building Plymouth summit also heard that the Council is to appoint a new ‘head of skills’ and one of the administration’s pledges is to change the Council’s procurement system to increase local purchasing.

The Council has launched its initiative to highlight the looming skills shortage in the construction industry, which is worth £246 million a year to the city.

It initiative aims to make it easier for those interested in building as a career to find out about how to get trained and seek new opportunities.