What is truly the state of the UK construction industry?

This interesting video piece from Bloomberg news highlights the continuing conflicting information out there right now about the prosperity and future of the construction industry. The chief exec of Travis Perkins thinks that rather than a decline the sector stayed static in Q1.

It makes you think we should maybe not fret and just stick to making sure that we’re ready and able to take advantage of whatever opportunities are out there. To us that means TRAINinG and SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. Make sure you and your workforce are well prepared to meet the challenges ahead.

Britain’s largest DIY retailer B&Q have well and truly tapped in to the growing trend for DIY across the UK. A survey conducted by them indicated a number of key driving forces behind this trend. In  particular:

• Recession and a tightening of domestic budgets is providing a strong financial incentive to ‘do it yourself’.
• Across many households the lady of the house is frankly getting fed up waiting for hubby to get around to that long list of jobs that never get done, so they’re equipping themselves with the required skills to get things done for themselves.

Keen to ensure that they meet the requirements of today’s DIY market, the retailer has set up  a number of You Can Do It centres across the country. These centres offer training to anyone who fancies developing the skills to take on some of those lingering DIY tasks for themselves.

This article provides more insight into this trend, and the steps that B&Q have taken together with a first hand account of people who have used the service to great effect.

The article refers to a centre in Gilligham which we at The Construction Skills Centre are delighted to say were selected to help to design the training centre, and write the lesson plans. We also train the B&Q staff that deliver the training in store.

We think that’s a bit of a feather in our cap, and a strong endorsement from such a major player of the training quality we provide.

Some mixed news on the economy. The official growth figures for the first quarter of 2011 produced an overall  increase of 0.5%, keeping the UK economy officially out of recession, but the news for the construction industry specifically was a little more stark. A 4.7% dip back in the sector has had a negative impact of 0.3% on the total economy, as highlighted here.

The Federation of Master Builders have reacted strongly to the news, expressing the view that the economic recovery requires a strong construction sector to fuel growth and has called on the government to ensure that relevant steps are taken to ensure that there is a robust recovery in this sector of the economy.

Our view is that a contruction workforce equipped with the relevant skills to meet the future challenges within the construction sector is absolutely essential, and we will continue to offer and develop a range of courses that will ensure that our graduates are well placed to take their place in the workforce when the impetus bites. We are continuing to see strong demand for the development of trade skills from both new and existing professionals, together with DIYers, and are confident that as long as this trend continues the construction industry will be well placed to pick up the increase in demand when it arrives.

At The Construction Skills College we have a firm belief in teaching all the skills necessary to effectively undertake construction related tasks. This includes a solid grounding in the basics and a strong focus on effectively preparing jobs to make sure that school boy errors are avoided.

Never has this type of approach been more timely as we head into a period of bank holidays when once again keen enthusiasts across the country will be picking up their tools and taking on those tasks they’ve been meaning to get around to!

This article provides a timely reminder of some of the things to consider to make sure all goes effectively to plan.

If you’re planning a busy holiday have fun and prepare well!

An interesting article recently posted highlights that DIY disasters cost British householders a staggering £2.1 billion per annum.

If ever you needed a little spur to make sure you prepare and train yourself fully before taking on DIY tasks around the home just read the full article here.

A story right in our heartland of Stoke acts to emphasise the need to know what you’re doing when working on your plumbing at home. In this case 300 residents have been left without gas supply to their homes thanks to a plumbing error by a local DIYer.

Though here at Construction Skills College we obviously train those who are interested in following a trade profession, or those already in the trade who want to improve their skills, we are also finding huge demand for those who just want to work on their own properties themsleves. This has a been a particularly marked development during the ‘recession’.

We are even an appointed training centre for B&Q who now offer such training through their stores across the UK.

We often think we know what we’re doing or can simply pick something up as we go along, but this article just goes to show how badly wrong it can go!

Thanks,
Dave

A highly positive announcement of a new government funding stream in to the construction industry means that it’s a great time for acquiring or enhancing trade skill levels in order to tale advantage of the mini boom that this is likely to create. As with all recessionary times the businesses and individuals that will thrive beyond are those that continue to focus on both marketing and skill levels so that they are ready to step up to the plate when opportunity presents itself.

Please click here for more details.

Welcome to the Constructions Skills College blog.

Here we’ll be keeping you up to date on topics relevant to the construction industry, trade skills and all the stuff that’s going on here at the college.

We hope you’ll become an active visitor and find our content of use.

Please feel free to post comments on any of our posts and add to the discussion streams. All views are welcome, but please keep ‘em clean.

David Hare (Head Honcho)