Due to be published this autumn, the manifesto challenges the building industry and education sector to halt the decline in construction graduates. "So far the professional bodies have all paddled their own canoe," says Bale. "What we're trying to do is say: we're here, we're a big industry and we want the people who allocate resources in higher education to recognise us as a sector."
Bale's idea is that all built environment disciplines, which account for 5% of graduates, should talk to the education sector as one to maximise their influence. "The professional institutions each have their own dialogue with education," says Bale. "The CIOB, for example, has an excellent relationship with the universities that provide its accredited courses - but what we haven't got is the broader view that says the built environment is a complete picture."
The manifesto has a solution to this problem that also makes good economic sense, says Bale. "We want courses to be grouped together. We must put more emphasis on construction managers, architects, surveyors, town planners and engineers being educated alongside each other, and having common module courses across disciplines reduces costs."
Bale is as good as his word. His faculty runs a Movement for Innovation demonstration project called Time IT, which involves all undergraduate students working together on design problems. This is not only cost-effective, says Bale, but meets the government's challenge of joined-up thinking and the Egan agenda on partnering. Bale says: "It is really healthy, but we couldn't do it unless we had all the disciplines here in the faculty. The danger at the moment is that the different disciplines are run separately. Problems are multidisciplinary, and need to be solved in a multidisciplinary way."
The other core message of the manifesto is that education must recognise the importance of the construction industry. "If you look at the main objectives of government policy: economic prosperity, social inclusion and a sustainable environment," says Bale, "the built environment industry is highly relevant to all those things.
"The health of the economy and society requires a good construction industry and we haven't done enough to tell the universities that we are important. But I object to universities saying this is nothing to do with them. As universities, we are in the business of promoting and providing higher education and have a responsibility to society to meet its needs. No one would be crazy enough to say that if kids suddenly stopped becoming interested in being doctors or nurses you'd let it fade away."
Bale identifies image as a big factor in the dearth of young people taking up built environment courses. "People see the industry in a negative way, either as rough and tough, or as unsuitable for women, and that's a real problem. Most people who come into construction enjoy it and don't regret it. We need to do more shouting about it to make construction a positive choice for school leavers."
Bale also points out that more training is required right across the industry. "Many people are working in the industry without proper training and that's true whether you are talking about craftsmen or managers. It's not true of other professions - none of us would want to go to a dentist who wasn't properly qualified. Yet if we had better-trained managers there would be fewer people killed on construction sites."
Bale believes in taking risks to get his message across. "If we get headlines that ruffle a few feathers, so what? That might get us noticed in a way that we aren't now. It's ironic that the biggest industry in the country, responsible for 10% of GDP, is taken for granted. People are always asking me what it is that construction managers do? "
Raising the profile of construction, and the CIOB in particular, is something John Bale is passionate about doing. "There's a danger that professional institutions can become a bit inward-looking. Under Paul Shepherd's leadership the CIOB has become more relevant to the outside world and it's important that we build on that."
He's keen not to be seen as just another academic, but warns that construction must improve its educational perform-ance if it is to meet the challenges set down by the Egan report. "There aren't enough people going into construction management. There is a cost to pay, and that cost is a less than adequate performance on the part of the industry."
Source
Construction Manager
