Building recruitment pathways for ex-military

A new drive to increase recruitment from the armed forces into the construction sector is being backed by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

It is estimated that some 230,000 new recruits are needed in construction by 2020 and with three-quarters of UK contractors operating at or near full capacity, skills shortages are no longer confined to the trades: demand for professional technical and managerial staff is escalating.

BuildForce is an initiative to raise awareness of the construction careers with armed forces leavers and veterans, and strengthen recruitment pathways from the services into the sector. CIOB is supporting the scheme by creating accessible routes into its membership for those with military experience, offering a professional qualification that will help them gain management roles in construction.

This news follows a CIOB survey of more than 700 construction professionals, in which 77% of respondents said that ex-service personnel could help plug the management skills gap in the industry.

Andrew Parker, Director of Defence at Morgan Sindall and Chair of BuildForce, said: “With nearly 20,000 men and women leaving the armed forces every year, this provides a natural resource of managerial talent for employers. In many cases, ex-military personnel have already developed strong leadership and management skills, but may lack specific construction knowledge.

“Our aim at BuildForce is to bridge that gap, alerting people to the opportunities in the construction sector at an earlier stage in their military career, providing access to training, mentoring and working with organisations such as CIOB to help them gain built-environment qualifications before they leave the services.

“We would like BuildForce to become the go-to organisation for enabling ex-military personnel to get into construction whilst also helping smooth the transition into civilian life.”

BuildForce is part-funded by CITB and led by a group of founding companies: Carillion, Crossrail, EY, Lendlease, Morgan Sindall and Wilson James. Following a successful 18-month pilot, BuildForce is expanding to include more industry partners.