Engine House powers crucial construction industry summit

: Created: 28 February 2020

Off the back of becoming a lead in the Greater London Authority's Mayor's Construction Academy, over 30 delegates attended the summit made up of College teaching and technical experts, teachers from Shooters Hill Sixth Form College, and many construction employers and contractors based in the south east.

Representatives from Peabody, JTL, GLLaB, Bexley Council, Sapphire Balconies, PIB Contractors, Vital Energi and Wilton Electrics attended the event.

The aims and objectives of the summit were simple - to engage colleges and employers in constructive dialogue in order to provide a multifaceted industry with suitably qualified employees - enabling them to access a wide range of craftspeople, engineers, surveyors and management staff to cover their extensive range of building projects in the south east over the next decade.

In a post-Brexit economy, the option for firms to enlist employees from the EU is going to be more difficult and could result in a significant shortfall unless the country acts swiftly to train its future staff. Failure to do this could result in many large developments and infrastructure projects grinding to a halt.

Royal Honour for London South East Colleges

London South East Colleges has been chosen for a Queen's Anniversary Prize in recognition of its high quality technical and vocational provision, specifically in relation to its recent work within the construction industry - the ‘Construction Skills Generator’. This pioneering initiative is helping to support housing ambitions across greater London, in partnership with employers and stakeholders.

Introducing the event, Andrew Cox, the College’s Group Head of Strategic Development, Partnerships and Projects, told delegates: “Today we have a golden opportunity to start the conversation between education and training providers and the construction and built environment industries. A lot depends on us getting this right as we embark on a new decade and a new technological era. We can begin the process of knowing more about what employers need, how we can gear our curriculum to providing students with the right skills for the right job and creating a highly-skilled, home-grown workforce fit for purpose. In return, employers can get involved in shaping the way skills training is offered and provide us with expert, working knowledge to keep us permanently up-to-date with new technologies and best practice.

“It’s great to see so many employer representatives here today – this shows us that we are all taking this as seriously as each other and eager to forge some very exciting partnerships.”

Andrew went on to tell the audience about the Teach Too project – a partnership between the Education Training Foundation (ETF) and the Association of Colleges (AoC) promoting and supporting collaboration between further education (FE) providers and industry.

Trevor Nobel, Career Pathway Director for Engineering and Construction at London South East Colleges gave our guests an extensive run down of what the College currently offers and how future investment will enable more responsive pathways to employment, research informed learning, longer and more frequent on-the-job work experience programmes and exposure to newer working methods and automation.

This was then followed by two workshops focussing on how we can support newly qualified employees transitioning from college into the workplace, and how we can co-design and develop a modern, industry standard curriculum that is both deliverable and viable.

Splitting into four teams, delegates got down to business and shared their insight in a wide range of different skilled professions within the sector, how jobs are changing due to new innovations in technology and the different ways people are employed. They recognised that much needed to be done to gear education and training to reflect the real world of working, employability and what employers expect (from day one) of their employers. It also highlighted that more needs to be done to give students and apprentices more scope to the type of jobs they wish to enter and how these jobs can develop into very lucrative career paths.

The day was rounded off with two short presentations by representatives from The Engine Room Bexley and construction firm Berkeley Group plc.

Sarah Tobias (Project Manager for Inward Investment and Promotions) and Lewie Winters (Head of Creative Services) gave a brief introduction to the Engine Room Bexley and the services they offer in CAD, 3D printing, hotdesking and facilities/office hire to support the local business community.

Tim Hawkins (Senior Project Director) and Phil Welsman, (Senior Project Manager) at Berkeley Group outlined their current key home and neighbourhood building developments across London; these include projects in Marine Wharf, Kidbrooke Village, Royal Arsenal and Southall Waterside.

If you think you have what it takes to become a construction or building trade professional and would like to build a successful career in the construction and built environment industries, we’d like to hear from you. We have a great range of courses to get you started. Apply now.

If you are an employer and thinking of taking on an apprentice or providing your existing staff with bespoke training opportunities that will help them become more qualified and confident in a range of skills, practices and regulations, we’d like to hear from you. Call us on 020 3954 4965 or click here to complete our online enquiry form.