Skills for a green recovery: A call to action for the UK construction industry

Article

The UK’s 10-point plan to achieve net zero climate emissions by 2050 is a shared responsibility. Central to the plan is the construction industry, which will be responsible for designing, building and maintaining the infrastructure that will play a pivotal role in decarbonising our built environment.

However, the entire construction industry is facing large and persistent skills gaps and skills shortages, that may hamper its ability to make good on the government’s ambitions. The issue of skills and employment encompasses recruitment, training and retention of workers.

To assess the performance of current employment and skills programmes, we conducted qualitative research among practitioners involved in the Thames Tideway Tunnel Project, and among stakeholders from industry.

We discover that skills and employment programmes in the infrastructure sector are hamstrung by a lack of collective action among firms, and a lack of leadership in government. However, we also find that the workforce is already capable, at least in terms of its knowledge and technical capability, of building the infrastructure needed to achieve net zero.

Related items

  1. An older man with a walking stick is sitting on a sofa having his temperature taken with a thermometer in his ear by a female nurse in uniform

    This time must be different: Overcoming barriers to social care reform

    Adult social care services across England are struggling to keep up with increased demand, let alone improve. But failure is not an option.
  2. Queen Square Bus Station on Hood Street in Liverpool city centre

    En route to renewal: Delivering better, greener buses

    Good buses drive a strong economy, healthy environment and thriving society. 
  3. Townhouses beside the railway on the viaduct with a running train in Durham, UK

    On track to prosperity: Great Northern Rail

    It’s time the North saw real change for better transport, delivering prosperity and better lives: a long-term plan for Great Northern Rail