The Opening Of CITB Northern Irelands New Belfast Office

Minister, special guests, colleagues, thank you for inviting me here today to celebrate with you the launch of ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland and the official opening of these splendid new city centre offices.

I am pleased to be here today and delighted that Sir Reg Empey can be here with us. Your presence, Minister, not only shows that construction is high on the Government’s agenda, but it also sends a clear message to industry that we are working together to represent the interests of the construction workforce in Northern Ireland.

It is over a year since I was last in Belfast, and as I was coming into the city in the taxi from the Airport yesterday, I was delighted to see so many cranes on the skyline – signalling the impressive and significant redevelopment that the city and indeed the rest of the Province is undergoing.

Everywhere I looked, there were construction works, and shiny new buildings. There seems to be a buzz in the city, a renewed optimism and a feeling that things are getting better.

I remember coming to Belfast many years ago and being saddened that a city as great as this was experiencing such decline after deindustrialisation. But now, I am delighted to see how things have turned around.

Belfast is a great European City and it is booming. In the past decade we have seen record levels of investment and growth, which has resulted in new roads, bridges, buildings, hotels, offices, entertainment venues and cosmopolitan shopping centres. It is a far cry for the images of the city that we would have conjured up just 20 years ago. Belfast is a place where people want to visit and live.

Even in the current climate of an economic slowdown, there is still much to be positive about. There has been a slowing in the House Building sector across the UK, but the “credit crunch” has not affected the order books of many of our contractors and the construction industry remains buoyant.

Even during this challenging time, Northern Ireland can still afford to be optimistic. There is plenty of redevelopment on the horizon and projects are already in the pipeline. Iit is appropriate that Sir Reg Empey is here today, because over the next three years alone the Northern Ireland Executive have invested £5.57bn in infrastructure, health and education projects.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is taking time for investment programmes to progress, which is not unusual for large public capital expenditure programmes, but assuming that most of the available funds are used by 2011, this will help generate construction output growth over the next four years.

Findings from our ConstructionSkills Network report that came out at the start of the year show that Northern Ireland is overtaking Greater London in the output growth stakes because of a wide reaching public investment programme in the Province which has been extended to 2018.

However, we are currently revising our CSN forecasts to take account of the economic slowdown. Early indications show that whilst the Northern Ireland construction industry will still experience output growth over the next 4 years, there will be a significant reduction in the number of new entrants required to join the industry each year.

There is a real role to play for ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland, as we work with Government, Federations, employers, trade unions, and people who are coming into the industry to make sure that we have a safe, professional and fully qualified construction workforce in the Province.

We also need to make sure that our employers here in Northern Ireland are robust and can compete in a crowded marketplace. In the last decade, construction companies have benefited from a construction boom in the Republic of Ireland. With this now coming to an end, companies here need to make sure that they have the right people, with the right skills in the right place at the right time, so that they can remain competitive.

We have made tremendous progress over the years, but as we launch ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland, we must move forward with industry even more.

We need to continue to listen to our colleagues and continue to work with Government so that our voice is heard. As part of this, I am delighted to be able to tell you that following the launch of the Sector Skills Agreement in Feb 2007 we have completed a further review of the agreement with industry and stakeholders to take account of new labour market information and developments in the industry. We currently have over 30 partners who have agreed to work with us to deliver the Northern Ireland Sector Skills Agreement and are planning to add a further 15 partners to this list.

I am also pleased to be able to report that in agreement with industry and Government we have established a new ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland Employer Forum which will have its inaugural meeting in these offices this very afternoon. We are most grateful to Sir Reg Empey for his assistance in creating this.

Engaging with industry is crucial. Our new employer forum will provide us with excellent opportunities to engage with a wide range of construction employers and to consult and determine their skills needs. It will also allow us to influence Government and stakeholders to meet those needs.

We have a management committee of employers who are working with us to ensure our business plan for Northern Ireland is delivered. We have also established a Standards and Qualifications working group who will focus on the delivery of our Construction Qualifications Strategy here in Northern Ireland.

In addition to this, we are launching our BigSkills campaign, which is Building NI. It will focus on the services that we can provide that will help construction firms to upskill their workforce. BigSkills will launch on 8 September. It is a crucial marketing campaign which will highlight management and leadership, as well as health and safety and apprenticeships.

There are challenging times ahead, but more than ever, we need to pull together – Government, The Sector Skills Council, the Industry Training Board, Federations, trade unions and employers.

ConstructionSkills in Northern Ireland has an important role to play as we move forward and I am delighted that we can do that here – in these city centre offices where we have a presence.

Ours is a great industry. In years to come young men and women who work in construction now will be able to take their children and grandchildren to an iconic building and say, “I built that”. The landmarks that we build here in Northern Ireland today, tomorrow, next year and in years to come will be here as our testimony long after our passing.

Today, we might be officially opening a new office suite, but what we do from these offices means so much more than that. Our work is crucial not only to the economic prosperity of Northern Ireland, but to the lives of people in the province who will benefit from the cityscapes and landmarks that we create. The people whom we train and help to establish a career will enjoy a better future for their families and themselves.

Everyone in this room has a role to play. Together, we can leave a positive legacy; and, as we are telling people in our BigSkills campaign, together, we really can build Northern Ireland.