Construction industry bodies have announced plans for 32 “new skills hubs” in a bid to fill housebuilding skills gaps with “fast-track” training for up to 5,000 apprentices each year.
Joint investment of £140 million from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the National House-Building Council (NHBC), will see the hubs developed in areas with the greatest homebuilding need, according to a government press release.
NHBC, a new-build home warranty provider and training provider, says it will expand its network of training centres with up to 12 new “multi-skills training hubs” worth £100 million.
Roger Morton, NHBC’s director of change and training hubs said the non-profit company, which has been a registered apprenticeship provider since 2020, already has four hubs where it delivers intensive bricklaying training in realistic conditions.
He told FE Week: “The existing ones are basically a slab of concrete covered by canopy with cabins around.
“It enables us to give the training a realism – they’re similar to sites you see all around the country.”
Fast track training
NHBC said its realistic training centres and intensive apprenticeship training regime means learners can complete in “14 to 18 months” – faster than the 24 to 30 months for typical construction apprenticeships.
The non-profit company plans to eventually train up to 3,000 apprentices each year in groundworks, bricklaying and carpentry.
The CITB and NHBC believe the hubs could train apprentices in as little as 12 months, while the DfE says it is working on ways to make apprenticeship rules more flexible to “solve skills shortages and support growth”.
The industry bodies will also work “hand in hand” with new DfE agency Skills England to identify locations that need construction workers the most, the department said.
Industry training body the CITB will reportedly invest £40 million in new homebuilding skills hubs to bring the total to 32.
‘Truly collaborative approach’
A spokesperson said it is already working with NHBC on two new hubs and is seeking a “wider group of providers” to work with, such as further education colleges and employers.
Tim Balcon, chief executive of CITB, said: “It is clear that we need to rethink how we train our workforce and be much more agile in our approach.
“We have worked closely with the homebuilding industry and government to develop a programme that is focussed on equipping individuals with the skills they need to be productive on site, in the most efficient way.
“This is truly a collaborative approach and one we are very excited about.”
The CITB coordinates training grants for the construction industry funded from an income of about £170 million in levy charges each year.
The government has committed to building 1.5 million homes in this Parliament and fix England’s “broken skills system”.
Around 250,000 construction workers are needed by 2028 to meet existing demand for new homes, the CITB estimates.
The DfE said the hubs are expected to be training 5,000 apprentices a year when they are all up and running by 2028.
Skills Minister Jacqui Smith said she is “pleased” the initiative will give apprentices “skills to seize opportunity”.
Whilst i welcome any investment and any project to help towards the skills shortage which will be made worse by the amazing targets for house building i do have to wonder why CITB could not have involved current providers in this. What impact assessments were carried out to review the impact on current providers in the chosen areas.
There is an assumption by the current government that complex construction skills can be taught and learned in simulated environments like colleges and then simply transferred to a different context – if evidence exists of college-based skills transferring to contexts outside, then these apprentice skills are likely to be basic actions and processes – not the higher level skills required of fully qualified workers with years of time-serving under their belts. Problem solving and problem finding are learned at work in real time – these higher level skills that employers want from apprentices are very difficult to simulate in colleges.
The college hub apprentice scheme provides double standards for apprenticeships in construction:
1. The college hub employed ‘fast-track’ apprentice doing basic simulated assessments, devoid of uncertainty, problems and challenges the real world. College standards of occupational competence are not the same as those required for payment in the workplace.
2. The apprentice employed by a real construction firm does day release college over a 2-3 year period, building and maintaining houses while being taught and corrected continually by time served building experts around them.
The research in Further Education suggests that simulations are useful in training but education authorities have just ignored the drawbacks especially for safety specific occupations like gas work – do you want to employ a gas engineer who has only done a few days training and assessment in a college or an engineer who spent 4 years at work training with worker technicians?
Evidence: https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/15728
Hopefully this will include painting, decorating and plastering and not just bricklaying and Carpentry.