Open Doors Week (23-28 March) provides an ideal opportunity to engage with the young people who already have the interests and digital awareness our industry needs, writes Louisa Finlay, chief operating officer and chief people officer at Kier
In 2025, the average time that a child in the UK spent gaming was 20.4 hours per week. That is an increase from 16.8 hours the previous year. This statistic was taken from responses to a survey carried out by Mumsnet and ygam. But what does gaming have to do with construction, you might ask? A lot more than you might initially have thought.
Firstly, it is the transferable skills. Digital construction, BIM, project planning and 3D modelling are not very far from the tools that many young people use in their hobbies every day. Gaming teaches spatial awareness, 3D worldbuilding, teamwork, problem solving and risk spotting – the same skills that we use every day when we design, build and maintain infrastructure for our customers and communities.
What is more, with our world ever more focused on data and technology – something that is especially true at Kier, given our “naturally digital” ambitions – there are clear and tangible links between pastimes and work time in construction. Young people already have many of the skills that the future world of construction needs – often without realising it.
Where we also see an opportunity with gaming, and other similar hobbies, is finding the interests of the next generation of our workforce and tapping into them as we look to recruit and attract more young people into the industry. This is why a key focus for Kier during this year’s Open Doors Week – and beyond – is showing potential new recruits that the skills they already have – ones which they might not have considered to be particularly relevant to the working world – are actually not as far removed as they might think.
This is not just about operations, but culture too. We are working to make Kier “naturally digital”: not just using digital tools on projects, but embedding digital thinking into our behaviours. Thinking digitally needs to become second nature to infrastructure professionals in a way that it already is to the people we are looking to recruit.
We are recognising the passions that they have, the experiences they already have, and helping them to see how those skills translate into careers in construction today
There are so many entry points for young people to get involved – and the future of construction will be transformed by young talent, who can join the dots between the skills they already have and the careers that are waiting for them.
That is the aim of our transferable skills series: meeting young people where they already are, in their space. We are recognising the passions that they have, the experiences they already have, and helping them to see how those skills translate into real careers in construction today - and in the digital world we are building for tomorrow.
Every year we approach Open Doors Week with the future in mind. It is the primary purpose of the event – opening up our sites with the aim of ensuring that the construction industry attracts the people it needs to help it grow and strengthen over the coming decades.
It is a time to show that we know, value and understand how gaming – and other hobbies which make tech and digital a part of a person’s thought process – is a transferable skill that can help shape the future of infrastructure. And as they say, ‘if you love what you do, then you will never work a day in your life’. Open Doors gives us the opportunity to demonstrate this to young people across the country.
This year, as we prepare to show people what goes on beyond the hoardings, the pride and excitement we feel about our projects will come across as it always does – I am sure of that. But, as discussions turn from the present to the future, we want to share a different kind of excitement – the kind you feel at the start of a journey if you do not know exactly where it will take you.
The truth is that we cannot know how many more milestones the skills we are learning and recruiting for will enable us to reach, or how quickly those skills will get us there – but we can’t wait to find out.
The spark of inspiration is already alive within Kier. From 23-28 March, we will aim to ignite it for others, in the hope that they will come along for a most enjoyable ride.
Louisa Finlay is chief operating officer and chief people officer at Kier.
Building is media partner for Open Doors Week, which is delivered by Build UK and takes place from Monday 23 to Saturday 28 March. Visitor bookings are now open. For more details, go to opendoors.construction
No comments yet