Speech to Annual Dinner Of CIOB
At The Guildhall - 19 February 2004
Mr President, Mr Portillo, Distinguished Guests, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great privilege to propose the toast to the Chartered Institute this evening. I am very proud to be an Honorary Fellow. In both my Willmott Dixon and CITB-ConstructionSkills roles, I work very closely with the CIOB.
This has been a momentous year for ConstructionSkills. A successful, highly-skilled construction industry is vital for the wellbeing of our country. Not just because great buildings like the Guildhall raise the spirits of communities and promote prosperity. But also because we are experiencing major physical renewal - the regeneration of post-industrial communities, the refurbishing or rebuilding of schools, social housing and hospitals, new homes to own, the renewal of infrastructure, and vast projects such as Terminal 5. Our industry is very busy. But our industry likes to be busy. It has always, quite literally, Built Britain.
British people don’t just want new structures. They want them to be well-designed and well-built. And for that we need expertise at every level. Those already in the sector should update their skills, move up the career ladder and take on new challenges. And capable and keen young people must be encouraged to join us every year to meet the workload demand.
ConstructionSkills will be a powerful voice for training and education in the industry, embracing employers, employees and trades unions throughout the UK. We are working towards a Sector Skills Agreement with the Learning and Skills Council. That will give us a crucial voice over how £300 million of government funding for training is deployed in the industry.
It’s not just about money. In the later years of compulsory schooling, and immediately afterwards, education must be relevant and appropriate to the world of work. ConstructionSkills, with its strong employer representation, will be directly involved. We must move away from a rigid vocational / academic divide. We must also strengthen the vocational route into higher education. That is why ConstructionSkills is working with Kingston University and a number of FE colleges across London to develop progression routes for Advanced Modern Apprentices into higher education. We are also working with universities to demonstrate examples of good practice, to encourage further collaboration between higher education and industry.
As well as ensuring that construction can recruit to meet its needs, and can upskill its workforce to required standards, ConstructionSkills is called upon to help the industry to improve its performance. Well-managed firms are more likely to be successful, profitable, safe and attractive companies to work for. In an industry dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, it is vital to spread good management practice throughout the whole sector. We at ConstructionSkills will be fully engaged in this.
That is also the core area of CIOB’s commitment and expertise. Throughout its long and distinguished history, the Chartered Institute has championed excellence and professionalism in construction. Those qualities, and the CIOB’s contribution to maintaining and developing them, are needed more than ever today. ConstructionSkills will work closely with you.
All of us must strive to achieve the best educated, trained and motivated workforce. It is not enough to be world class. We should seek to be world beaters. In four simple words for our industry, Nothing but the best.
Mr President, I warmly congratulate the CIOB on another year of achievement. I wish it further outstanding success in the future. I ask you all to join with me in the toast to the Chartered Institute of Building.
