The lure of the rings

It’s not even been a year since London was awarded the Olympics, but if you are a construction manager there is already cause for celebration.

According to CITB-ConstructionSkills, the real winners will be in management, where there is a huge need for those who can help deliver infrastructure, residential and venue departments.

Research produced through the CITB’s Construction Skills Network, a body that aims to provide information into the skills needed for the games and to plan for the impact of future trends on the workforce, reveals that around 33,000 jobs will be created over the next seven years. A chunky 6500 of those positions will need to be managerial and administrative roles. But will they be filled?

Even with more than 230,000 managers working in construction across the UK, recruitment agencies are struggling to fill vacancies. A national employer skills survey in 2003 rated construction as the second highest profession with manpower shortages - problem areas included managerial, professional and technical fields.

Jobs for all

It is likely that this means for CIOB members seeking to move to bigger and better things can cherry-pick jobs and expect to be well paid in the process.

Even without the distraction of the Olympics, construction managers are already in demand and good wages are on offer. For example, last month’s CM included vacancies for site and project managers in London with a starting salary of at least £50,000 plus benefits. Senior positions pay a lot more.

Ray Connolly, director of recruitment specialists Fawkes & Reece, confirms the struggle to fill current vacancies, and adds that there will be plenty of work for those who want it when companies actually start gearing up to bid for and deliver Olympics-related work.

“It hasn’t kicked off yet, but it’s all to come,” he said. “When it does, the work will be there and there will be a lot of opportunities.”

In the meantime, employers are doing all they can to keep you sweet. A survey released by KPMG revealed that many construction companies believe the skills shortage is making organisations squeeze profit margins to pay higher wages. The poll quizzed 142 building and construction HR industry executives on the reasons behind recruitment difficulties.

Recruitment agencies are doing well out of it. This may not endear them to employers, though. The relationship has often been uneasy. The agencies’ role is to both give and take away good staff, and some feel the relationship is worsening. Research by professor Mel Lees and Allan Ashworth of the Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment, University of Salford, shows that a shortage of graduates is sending recruitment costs through the roof.

“It is now commonplace that the money paid to recruitment consultants in order to secure an appointment is equivalent to 40% of the annual salary of the new recruit,” they say. “Worse still, companies struggle to retain the staff they secure, with the very agencies employed to recruit staff being the source of the problem as they will maintain a relationship with the new recruit and inform them of alternative job offers when they become available.”

Matt Higgs, who will be handling Olympic recruitment for Hays Montrose, is well aware of the skills shortages and adds if the Olympics were next year it would be “turmoil”.

So what’s being done?

According to Sheila Hoile, strategy director at CITB-ConstructionSkills, the Construction Skills Network will help to ensure that the industry has the right people in the right place at the right time.

“As more plans are finalised for the Olympic and Thames Gateway developments over the coming years, so the network will be able to produce more accurate figures on how many people – and more importantly, in what roles – will be needed to deliver this massive project.”

The network believes that 2010 is when work on the games should hit its peak, with a staggering 7500 workers on projects at that time.

Demand in the capital will already be great with £34bn worth of projects in the South-east and Greater London in the pipeline. Although the Olympics is a major event, it makes up just 7.5% of major projects in the region.

The idea that we can do something about the Olympics in a short space of time is flawed

Professor Mel Lees

But companies are already being advised to plan ahead. A heavy burden will rest on subcontractors, who will have to prove they can find the workers needed to complete projects.

The London Assembly is focussing on small and medium-sized businesses. It wants to ensure that they are “supported in developing their capacity and that appropriate skills are grown in the local labour market”.

Higgs’ advice is that companies should advertise jobs across the country as there are plenty of people who want the Olympics on their CV. Andrew Thorpe, director of agency Eden Brown, agrees. He has noticed a growing interest among people in the regions wanting to work in London and the South-east.

Cost consultant Franklin & Andrews acknowledges that key skills will be stretched. In a report assessing the economic impact of the Olympics and Paralympics, it says: “Construction output growth will require an additional 45% in the greater London area over the period to meet demand. With the region historically only reaching 7.3% annually the full impact is realised.”

But some say we shouldn’t worry, really.

Dr Daniel Cahill, course director of the MSc construction management (project management) at the School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, says UK construction is remarkably adaptable in meeting the variable demands of the market.

“It would be very unlikely that a project did not go ahead because the industry was unable to respond,” he says. “It’s likely to use local resources, supplemented by additional resources brought in from any region for the duration of the project.”

And many big projects will have ended, such as T5 and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which will free up expertise at different levels.

The Franklin & Andrews report says we may just need to work smarter: “There will be a need to identify any potential shortfalls in resource, both consultant and contractor, and to procure those with the ability to overcome these pinch points by using their experience and expertise. The commitment to collaborative working and effective supply chain management will be vital. Without such a selection process high levels of deficits will inevitably lead to increased costs.”

Don’t look for a quick fix from universities.

“The idea that we could do something about it [the Olympics] in a short space of time is flawed,” says Lees. And Cahill urges the industry not to expect universities to pump out more graduates just for the Olympics because education is much more than that.

“Universities and all education institutions will support the development of people throughout the construction of the Olympic facilities, as well as throughout their careers,” he adds.

There is probably no quick fix anywhere. CITB-ConstructionSkills says it’s down to companies to manage workflow and show leadership. Last year its sometimes controversial Positive Image campaign promoted graduate opportunities, raising awareness of degrees such as construction project management to help the industry attract the brightest and best. What more can it do?

Mike Bialyj, field director for CITB-ConstructionSkills, adds: “We are also working with employers to encourage them to invest in training for their staff, including continuous professional development, graduate training and training plans. This will help ensure that people already in the industry are able to expand their knowledge and give them additional skills.”

Maybe the important question is not how to recruit sufficiently to deliver the Olympics, but rather how to use the Olympics to create a new legacy for construction, one of heightened profile and attractiveness. This is expected to happen in east London. Mike Bialyj says CITB-ConstructionSkills will work with partners to ensure the Olympics leads to skills and jobs for east Londoners.

The games could create a vacuum that sucks management expertise away from the regions, but it could also get more people interested in a construction career. cm