Skills for the Future
“The construction sector is changing. The demands placed on our built environment, coupled with revolutions in digital technology and well-documented geo-political factors, will challenge the sector to improve at a great pace. Against this back-drop we must seize the opportunity to actively challenge the poor image of construction, transform sector productivity, advance quality, and create a truly sustainable and diverse industry.”
CLC (2019) Skills Report
The CLC concluded from their widespread consultation that changes in procurement strategy and policy are an essential requirement for the moves towards “the Smart Construction” sector identified above, to make progress. Further progress is dependent upon the skills required include –
- The development of more widespread digital skills to underpin future, collaboration and productivity improvements within the sector,
- An increase in technical skills to enable deployment of Smart Construction methods during all stages of a projects lifecycle: project initiation, design delivery and operation, and
- The development of the necessary collaborative skills to enable individuals to work effectively across teams to plan and to communicate and deliver digitally-enabled Smart Construction projects
The University of Salford has an established community outreach and engagement programme that draws young and lifetime learners. However, the Centre for Construction Innovation will target specific areas to help to bring about a paradigm shift in improving the capability of the next generation of workers in the construction industry, along with offering new and improved techniques for the industry to take advantage of through an educated workforce.
The following points are areas of focus within the Skills for the future theme:
- Offering real-world training that embeds good practice at the heart of skill development
- Creating mentorship and leadership programmes, partnering the future generations with current industry innovators and leaders, offering insight and knowledge transfer
- Community outreach and engagement, promoting the value of a career in the construction industry to younger audiences, particularly young women, in Greater Manchester
- The new Centre acting as an incubator, to create a collaborative hub of research, development, testing and deployment, with SMEs and large companies working side-by-side with academics and students
Supporting Team
Knowledge transfer, upskilling and practical and theoretical skill development plays a large role at the University of Salford. The supporting team under this theme have experience in academia and industry and can provide valuable insights into industry skill and labour requirements that will guide the community engagement and outreach programmes, along with shaping the next generation of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that will benefit from close association and partnership working with the Centre.
The following noted members of the supporting team will help shape and guide the Skills and Education theme: