The Great British Bake Off and construction’s image problem

The industry needs to change its image. It needs to be portrayed in a positive light in a bid to encourage more people to train and join. We need to introduce higher-calibre people at the coal face, more self-starters and more motivation.

“Construction needs an X Factorisation”

Attitudes on site can be poor and the perception of the industry is preventing it from attracting a whole new generation of skilled tradespeople who will be the builders of the future.

Construction needs an X Factorisation.

Sexy again

We need to recreate the success that Jaguar Land Rover has seen in encouraging school-leavers to pursue a career in engineering.

It has used its weight to make engineering sexy again and to encourage young people to join the industry, including schemes to drive women into engineering. We need an organisation and an aspirational leader to do this for construction.

So are we doing enough about this?

While large contractors take some responsibility for helping to improve this image, smaller ones do not have the scale or budget to carry out campaigns of this size.

“We need to highlight the very positive benefits of working in construction”

The CITB, which is meant to be engaging with education to improve the image of construction, appears from the outside to be in disarray and should be working harder to support all of its members, no matter what the size.

Getting in the spotlight

With 30 per cent of our skilled workers due to retire in the next decade, what are our choices if we can’t bring in the trades that we need? Do we turn to offsite manufacturing to reduce our reliance on subcontracted labour?

The industry needs a media spotlight to showcase the skills of the talented individuals that work in it, and there are genuinely lots of them.

We need to highlight the very positive benefits of working in construction and the demand for skilled labour.

The Great British Bake Off had the nation glued to its screens and has seen baking become popular again, so why don’t we create a talent show with a focus on bricklaying or plastering?

The Great British Brick Off or the X Plaster has a ring to it, don’t you think?

Andy Robinson is managing director at Colmore Tang Construction