by Clair Mooney | 19 Sep, 2018 | Main News Feed
FIS will exhibiting at UK Construction Week at the NEC in Birmingham from 9 to 11 October. Come and see us at stand M112. We have a great line up of activities organised, including:
• 9 October 2018 – Our #iBuiltThis2018 awards ceremony at the Surfaces and Materials hub from 15:00. George Clarke will be announcing the winners of the competition and you will have the chance to network with industry leaders and peers.
• 9 October – attend our industry leading CPD sessions with Joe Cilia and Andrew Way on Design and Installation of Light Gauge Steel Infill Framing (and why this is not drylining for exteriors) from 10:45 – 11:45 at CPD Hub 2
• 9 October – CPD seminar with Joe Cilia on Product Process People (PPP) a simple process to provide evidence of compliance in light of the Edinburgh Schools Report and Dame Judith Hackitt’s Review from 13:45 – 14:45 at CPD Hub 2
• 10 October – Register for the free Mental Health Awareness training course taking place as a breakfast briefing at the Surfaces and Materials hub from 08:30 – 10:00. This is part of the #BuildersBrew campaign aimed at raising awareness of mental health.
• 9 and 10 October – Our new CEO Iain McIlwee will be in attendance to host you and speak to you all about how FIS can help you.
by Clair Mooney | 14 Sep, 2018 | Main News Feed
Small house builders predict that skills shortages in the building industry will hamper housing delivery and will eventually overtake access to finance as a bigger barrier to building new homes, according to new research by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). Key results from the FMB’s House Builders’ Survey 2018, the only annual assessment of small and medium sized (SME) house builders in England, include:
- The percentage of SME house builders saying that a shortage of skilled workers is a major barrier to their ability to build more new homes rose to 44% (up from 42% in 2017)
- A lack of available and viable land tops the list as the most commonly cited barrier (59%) to increasing housing delivery and almost two-thirds of SME house builders (62%) believe that the number of opportunities for small site development are actually decreasing (up from 54% in 2017)
- Nearly half of small house builders (46%) say access to finance is a major barrier to their ability to build more new homes
- More than half (51%) of SME house builders view the planning system as a major constraint on their ability to grow and ‘inadequate resourcing of planning departments’ was again rated as the most significant cause of delay in the planning application process for the third year in a row
- When asked to look ahead over the next three years, more firms cited skills shortages as a likely barrier to growth than access to finance.
FIS remain highly concerned about the skills mix in and around our sector and not just in housing – the potential impact on build-out and quality is significant. From statistics developed with Home Builders Federation (HBF) we know that we will need 3,320 dryliners/plasterers to meet the government target to build 300,000 houses, 400 tradespeople in our occupations per 10,000 houses built. Housing currently makes up approximately one third of our sector but with the growth forecast leaning towards this area of construction backed by Government’s very clear objective. We see that the gap is growing and there is a hole in the bucket!
At the FIS we see this as our number one challenge and, in addition to reaching into schools, new apprenticeship trailblazers and working with colleges and local employers to ensure that those studying for a diploma find employment, our sector leading BuildBack campaign is already up and running targeting the longer term unemployed to refocus and reskill them to help meet this demand. We must recognise this is a systemic problem and ensure that, working with CITB, the Skills Challenge Fund and as a group of trade bodies that our efforts are not on sticking plaster solutions, but fundamental and wholescale cultural change that will deliver us the numbers and quality of people that we need, sustainably.
To access the full survey click here; FMB’s House Builders’ Survey 2018, the only annual assessment of small and medium sized (SME) house builders in England.
by Clair Mooney | 10 Sep, 2018 | Main News Feed
The Home Building Skills Partnership, NHBC and Hamilton Deed are pleased to announce the next phase of fully funded training courses, focusing on assistant/ site manager and sales advisor roles. These training courses link closely with the Skills Frameworks and will help to improve industry standards and build quality across the home building sector.
This is a great opportunity for home builders and supply chain organisations to develop their workforce and increase value within their organisations at very little cost. However, places are limited and will be completed on a first come, first served basis for every organisation.
To book your place, visit https://www.hbf.co.uk/policy/home-building-skills-partnership/training/
The training courses focus on a range of topics covering the following CITB approved standards which are linked to the skills frameworks and current training needs:
• Building Regs and Control for Residential Homes
• Defect Prevention
• Develop and Maintain a Home Build Programme
• Interpreting Plans and Drawings
• Defect Prevention Introduction
• Effective Snagging and Pre-Handover Checks
• Hazards & Controls Associated with the Home Building Sector
• Home Build Site Management – People Management
• Home Build Handover
To ensure as many home builders and supply chain organisations access the training as possible, company capping will be limited to £10k. Please note, due to training being fully funded there are limited training places available. We advise you to book early to avoid disappointment.
by Clair Mooney | 7 Sep, 2018 | Main News Feed
On Monday 3 September Stortford Interiors and the FIS celebrated the launch of their flagship three-year youth engagement apprenticeship programme, Project Futures at the Broadgate Welcome Centre in London, hosted by British Land.
The event celebrated the first wave of new Project Futures apprentices who will embark on both carpentry and drylining apprenticeships, working on the British Land Broadgate Estates and help build our capital city.
The launch was attended by representatives across the supply chain, from the client themselves, tier one contactors Sir Robert McAlpine and Laing O’Rourke, Camden Council, the FIS President, CITB, journalists and many other partner stakeholders in support of Project Futures.
Full coverage of the celebration launch event and how Stortford Interiors has launched an innovative and committed SME response to the UK sector skills crisis based on their core values will be available over the next few weeks. For information on how you can work with the FIS in creating your own apprenticeship onboarding process and attack the skills gap contact Amanda Scott, FIS Sector Skills Engagement Manager via amandascott@thefis.org
by Clair Mooney | 6 Sep, 2018 | Main News Feed
The #BuildersBrew campaign aims to highlight the issue of mental health and encourage people to talk about this difficult subject area over a mug of tea or coffee. Mental health affects us all at some point in our lives and we are encouraging people to take positive proactive action to support each other and talk about it. We want people to share images of their #BuildersBrew, a photo of themselves with their mug of tea or coffee talking about mental health.
To support and raise awareness of such an important subject area we have teamed up with Digital College and UK Construction Week to offer you the opportunity to book in for a free mental health course; An Awareness of Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace. This will take place at a breakfast briefing from 9:00 – 10:00 at UK Construction Week exhibition at the NEC on 10 October, which is also World Mental Health Day. Breakfast will provided with a builders brew and you will receive your course certificate later in the morning.
The course is designed to provide an introduction to Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace. As well as explaining what is meant by the terms “Mental Health” and “Wellbeing”, the course aims to raise awareness of common mental health issues and provides suggestions of what to do if/when working life is affected by a manageable mental health condition, such as stress, anxiety, low mood and depression.
Register in advance to book your free course place by emailing yasminkauser@thefis.org
by Clair Mooney | 3 Sep, 2018 | Main News Feed
#iBuiltThis2018 is an image led campaign which aims to celebrate the skills and talent within the construction industry, and showcase projects people have built in relation to the built environment.
FIS chief executive Iain McIlwee said “The exclusive line-up on the judging panel consists of industry leaders, advocates and educators who are backing this campaign. The diversity the judging panel bring demonstrate how collaboration across the industry can help us to reach out to a wider audience and present construction as an attractive industry, full of opportunity and diversity of careers for young people and new entrants.
This year’s judging panel:
Amanda Clack – Executive Director, Head of Strategic Consulting at CBRE
Steve Coley – FIS immediate past president
Mark Farmer – industry advocate and Founding Director and CEO of Cast Consultancy
John Hughes – President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
Carwyn Jones – the winner of the #iBuiltThis2017 – 19 years and over age category
Kathryn Lennon-Johnson – Founder and Director of Built Environment Skills in Schools (BESS)
Fred Mills – Co-Founder and Managing Director of The B1M channel
Wyn Prichard – Director of Construction Skills from the NPTC group of colleges in Wales
Brendan Williams – CEO of Building Heroes
The #iBuiltThis2018 campaign is designed to get young people, the construction industry and the public to participate and show how proud they are of their contribution to the UK built environment in a fun, exciting and light-hearted way. We would like to showcase construction as the exciting and diverse sector it is with its huge breadth of disciplines and career opportunities to help attract new entrants. The competition will run for three weeks, submission is open from 3 September and closes on 23 September. Winners will be announced at the #iBuiltThis2018 awards ceremony at UK Construction Week on 9 October by TV personality and architect George Clarke. The finalists will also have their images streamed at the exhibition. The prizes will be awarded in November 2018.
The competition will be judged on the best creative picture and best response to the question asked within each age category. The public vote will make up 50% of the overall scores. The remaining 50% of the scores will be ranked in order by the judging panel.
Nathan Garnett, Event Director of UK Construction Week said “We love hosting the #iBuiltThis2018 competition at UK Construction Week because it works so well with our ambition to engage the wider community in the sector and inspire people to build something, share their achievement and get young people imagining what they could do in the sector. It was fantastic to see the social media engagement last year and we expect that to increase this year as the competition has such widespread support”.
The support for this campaign has been phenomenal across the industry with an impressive list of partners and sponsors that keeps growing by the day.
Amanda Clack, Executive Director, Head of Strategic Consulting at CBRE said “I am passionate about attracting top talent into the built environment sector, which very much starts with the next generation. I was delighted to be part of the inaugural #iBuiltThis2017 campaign last year, and again this year, as I believe showcasing people taking pride in what they have built, through social media particularly, is a great way of attracting the next generation. I am really excited to see what people submit this year as part of this competition”.
This competition was designed for the industry by the industry to change perceptions and work collaboratively and in doing so, we would encourage everybody to enter the competition and showcase their skills www.thefis.org/skills-hub/i-built-this-2018/
