What next for Positive Image

If we cannot persuade new blood into the industry, we will see severe skills shortages in the future. Employment and training took 10 years to recover from the skills shortages created by the early 1990s recession and we need to ensure our industry is learning from past mistakes.

We need to encourage more young people to join the industry. We want people from all ethnic backgrounds to look to construction as a great career choice. We want to ensure that everyone, right across the sector, from architect to steeplejack, has the best, most up-to-date skills to do their job.

We’ve pledged to deliver the right skills, in the right place, at the right time for the industry.

We’re already working hard on your behalf to recruit new blood into our industry. With your support we can be even more effective.

We must keep recruiting. But it is not as simple as merely taking on an apprentice. They may be the lifeblood of the industry, but if we are to really future-proof construction then we need to continue to widen our industry’s appeal with new audiences.

Developing a diverse workforce is not simply a matter of meeting government targets or helping the industry overcome the forthcoming demographic blip; it is a commercial imperative. If we want to attract the best and brightest talent to our industry, it makes no sense to recruit from only a limited section of society.

In order to promote diversity, we need to make our industry a welcoming place for all people, regardless of age, gender, race or sexuality.