Train to gain

Training, Marlow Hydronics

Education and training is the lifeblood of the industry. MBS brought together a panel of industry experts to examine the issues facing education and training in building services as the sector tackles new ways of working and rising skills shortages. Andrew Brister reports.

Who’s who on the panel

Andrew Blunsdon, MD, Priddy Engineering and Chairman of the B&ES Education Committee

Frank Clayton, Head of Group Learning and Development, NG Bailey

Lindsay Gillespie, Standards Development & Skills Policy Coordinator, B&ES

Nigel Hollett, General Manager, SummitSkills

Nick Martin, Technical Manager, Marflow Hydronics

Angela Ringguth, Professional Development Consultant, CIBSE

Ant Wilson, Director, AECOM

The building services industry is in the midst of massive change as it embraces the rise of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital engineering, increasing levels of off-site manufacture and copes with skills shortages as it slowly emerges from recession. As ever, education and training is vital if companies and individuals are to stay abreast of far-reaching developments in these new processes and technologies.

Is education and training in the sector fit for purpose? Are we producing apprentices and graduates with the right level of skills for the industry’s needs? Are courses responsive to developments such as BIM and off-site prefabrication? Does the industry concentrate too much on technical skills and not enough on the so-called softer skills of communication, collaboration and leadership?

Wilson: integrity and behavioural competence key

MBS invited a panel of industry experts to a Roundtable discussion to examine the current state of education and training and look at what improvements can be made, from apprenticeships through to degree and further degree courses, management and leadership and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

The Roundtable debate brought together consultants, contractors, manufacturers, standards-setters, institutions and trade bodies (see panel) to highlight successful strategies and best practice and look at how education and training can be shaped for the future.

Image problem

Of course, no discussion around education and training is complete without talking about skills shortages, as the industry struggles to attract sufficient numbers to tackle projected workloads. Figures from last November’s Skills to Build report, produced by KPMG in association with London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, indicated that some 600 000 people are needed to bridge the skills gap in relation to the expected pipeline of work in construction up to 2017. Yet, a fragmented industry with low profit margins, and one that has seen many redundancies during the longest, deepest recession on record, is struggling to take on and train new blood. As many as 350 000 highly skilled workers lost their jobs during the recession, and many won’t be back.

Hollett: how do we reach three million apprenticeships by 2020

Ant Wilson, director at AECOM, the world's biggest engineering design firm, argued that building services has an image problem. ‘Engineering is about creativity and design, yet no-one knows what a building services engineer is — we need to change the brand, so that it’s clear what a fantastic industry this is.’

While much work has been put it in to reach out to careers advisers, awareness takes a long time to build up. ‘As part of our outreach programme, we asked schools what they thought was an engineer,’ said Frank Clayton, head of group learning and development, NG Bailey. ‘The most common answer was Kevin Webster, the mechanic from “Coronation Street”. It’s up to us to go into schools and ignite a passion — you can’t expect that to come from careers advisers.’

CIBSE works with the STEM Ambassadors programme to work with schools to open the doors to the world of opportunities and possibilities which come from pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) subjects and careers. ‘We can tap into the well-organised programmes already in place to attract more people. There is evidence that these are starting to have an impact,’ said Angela Ringguth, CIBSE’s professional-development consultant.

Ant Wilson highlighted just how the nature of recruitment and training is shifting. ‘While we took on 330 graduates this year in the UK, only 50 are in building engineering. What we are noticing is that, nowadays, bright people are happy to enter the business as an apprentice, because they don’t want to get saddled with £100k of debt. The issue for us in building services is that they want to go to Oxbridge for their day release.” Due to the lack of building-services engineering courses, many employers are forced to recruit from general engineering graduates with degrees such as mechanical, electrical or aeronautical engineering, who then need a lot of subsequent training.

Clayton: 4500 applicants for 55 places

Things are no easier in apprentice recruitment. ‘The Government plans to create three million apprenticeships by 2020 — but how on earth do we get there,’ questioned Nigel Hollett, general manager of SummitSkills. ‘There is a constant lack of clarity on training, and new policies are introduced at the drop of a hat.’

This uncertainty leads to lack of confidence over investment in training and apprenticeships, particularly in small businesses. ‘Small firms can struggle to put together a dedicated training plan for an apprentice,’ said Nick Martin, technical manager at Marflow Hydronics. ‘Other demands can pull you away and it can be difficult to do right by them.’ It is hoped the Government’s planned Trailblazer model, where new apprenticeship standards are developed by employers, may assist here. ‘There is a role there for CIBSE and B&ES to create a template that will allow an SME company to construct a package that works for them,’ thought Angela Ringguth.

For a large employer like NG Bailey there are other problems. ‘We had 4500 applications for 55 places,’ said Frank Clayton. ‘It’s a challenge to sift through those candidates, but we are lucky to have the resources to be able to do it. The issue is if we don’t get SMEs engaged in training, we will be training people for others to take from us.’

Andrew Blunsdon, managing director at Priddy Engineering and chairman of the B&ES Education Committee is most definitely engaged and would love to take on apprentices. Yet, there are no colleges nearby that can meet his company’s needs. ‘As well as technical competence, we need M&E surveying skills, estimating…we just haven’t been able to place them locally.’

Ringguth: role for CIBSE and B&ES to create a template

Upskilling

Building services is an industry with an average age in the mid-40s. How can older generations stay in touch with new technologies and processes? And if we don’t quickly adopt the new technologies available as an industry, and we continue to do things in the more traditional ways that people feel most comfortable with, are we being truly efficient?

‘We are facing a demographic challenge,’ said Frank Clayton. ‘We’ve just been awarded the largest ever single electrical package in the UK at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, working as a joint venture with Balfour Beatty. We need to be able to attract both experienced electricians and new talent to work on such projects. We therefore have to think about how we attract them — we need to use new and emerging channels to do so, especially where the younger audience is concerned.’

‘Construction is changing, with much more modular, off-site prefabrication done in the factory,’ said Blunsdon. ‘We need a multi-skilled workforce, we need electrical operatives to do mechanical work and vice versa — it’s got to change. There is a reluctance to upskill the existing workforce.’

Where contractors have seen a business advantage in investment in training and upskilling, for example with certification in renewable technologies installation, they have been disappointed. ‘We developed bolt-on courses to allow M&E contractors to expand their businesses, only for the Government to change policy and contractors find that there is no work out there,’ said Nigel Hollett. The story is the same for CIBSE’s Low Carbon Consultant Scheme.

Martin: small firms struggle to take-on apprentices

Blunsdon felt that in the world of BIM, where data about a building is being shared among the construction team, there must be a role for education and learning. “There must be a way to capture all that knowledge and to share it. We must make all that data available to colleges for case studies,’ he said.

Certainly, there is much that can be learned from BIM, alongside initiatives such as the Soft Landings framework, to facilitate learning from buildings in use. ‘This is very pertinent to CIBSE’s drive to make buildings run as designed,’ said Angela Ringguth. -We are working with the facilities-management profession to increase the knowledge base of those that are running buildings. Soft Landings and BIM will help.’

CPD

Education does not stop when you finish your degree or college course. It is an ongoing process. It takes many forms, from the technology advice on offer from manufacturers, through to wider management and leadership skills. ‘Continuing professional development (CPD) is vital,’ said Angela Ringguth.

It is fundamental to being a professional, whether that is in formal training sessions or in the process of doing your job on a normal day — being a reflective professional.’ CIBSE requires a mandatory 60 hours of CPD over a 2-year period.

Gillespie: no market for training providers 

Marflow Hydronics is one such manufacturer offering CPD. ‘I’m surprised that it’s left to manufacturers to provide this training,’ said Nick Martin. ‘We are offering detail that isn’t considered at design stage — often it’s things that you’d expect people to know. The driver for us is obviously to improve people’s understanding of how our products work.’

The panel felt that while the standard of such free training is variable, it offers a useful resource. ‘When manufacturers are providing free programmes, it can be difficult for other training providers to move into that space,’ said Lindsay Gillespie, standards development and skills policy co-ordinator, B&ES.

Such courses are considered essential at AECOM. ‘We encourage our staff to go to every session that is laid on. It’s essential to absorb new things,’ said Ant Wilson. ‘There are manufacturers’ sessions, CIBSE modules and BSRIA training sessions. One thing that is missing is psychology. It’s important to be able to relate to people.’

‘It’s important to take staff out of their everyday contracting life to provide them with a richer, wider outlook,’ said Andrew Blunsdon. ‘You have to be able to communicate professionally with different types of people — whether that’s the foreman or the architect.’

‘Such skills can be labelled as soft in the male-dominated world of building services.’ said Clayton. ‘When I run an induction course for apprentices, I tell them that it is not enough to be great technically. We are looking for people that live the ethics and values of our company, and that’s not common in our sector — we need to put more value into that. Ultimately, we want to create a place where people will want to work. If your business is not progressive enough, they will go elsewhere.’

Blunsdon: lack of colleges to place apprentices

Being a leader that inspires others is vital. ‘You are only a leader if people follow you, and people won’t follow you if they don’t respect you,’ said Ant Wilson. ‘Integrity and behavioural competence is key.’

The message around the table was clear: it is up to the whole supply chain to invest in training — not just the larger companies. ‘I encourage everybody to train, to grow their staff and be the best that they can be,’ said Blunsdon. ‘You can’t worry about them leaving. Investing in training and allowing them to leave is infinitely better than not investing in training and allowing them to stay.’

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