NEWS | Bond between businesses and schools helps inspire a new generation of construction-based talent

An enterprising tie-in between businesses and local schools is bearing fruit by helping students gain a foot on the career ladder whilst addressing the construction industry’s recruitment crisis. 

Leading masonry support manufacturer, IG Masonry Support, based in Swadlincote, Derbyshire has taken on three employees from nearby Pingle Academy. It follows the company’s joining of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, which connects employers and education in the east Midlands area. Over the past 10 years the government-backed initiative has secured £1.5 billion investment and 20,000 jobs across the region.

The programme has been a resounding success for IG Masonry Support and its Managing Director Andy Neal, who was recruited as a D2N2 Enterprise Advisor in 2021.  He said: “When I was approached to a be a Career Enterprise Advisor, I didn’t really know what the role entailed. But I was interested in linking-up with a local school to help benefit the local community. It was also an opportunity to see if the Academy had a pool of talent that could benefit IG Masonry Support.”

Prior to the first meeting between the school and IG Masonry Support, an impromptu survey revealed that nine senior staff from across the company were educated at Pingle Academy. With many of the teachers still known to the former students, it enabled a beneficial partnership to rapidly establish between the two parties. It’s led to IG Masonry Support’s ex-Pingle Academy employees returning to their alma mater to give lectures on their post-education progress in the construction-based manufacturing sector.

Deb Holland, Assistant Principal at Pingle Academy, said the former students were as ‘delighted’ to revisit their old seat of learning, as the Academy was to host them. “It’s great to see that our students have gone on to do fabulous things,” she said. “It’s also quite special that they’ve given up their time to come and talk to current students. Hearing first-hand their account of what they’ve achieved at IG Masonry Support and what career options the company offers has helped to inspire students to follow in their footsteps.”

A key element of the mutually beneficial partnership is current Pingle Academy students being able to take part in pre-arranged tours of IG Masonry Support Group’s state-of-the-art production facility. One such visit led to an appointment that defies protocol and generally involves young talent being headhunted by an employer.

“Charlie, a Pingle Academy school leaver, managed to obtain my email address,” Andy Neal said. “His message was fairly succinct and straight to the point and essentially read, ‘I want to work for your business’. The direct approach paid dividends for Charlie who is currently making great strides as an apprentice at IG Masonry Support.

Statistics spell trouble in meeting future building needs

The ongoing skills shortage throughout the UK building industry has reached ‘alarming’ proportions, according to a recent Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) survey. It showed 75% of contractors had issues recruiting skilled operatives, a statistic that will do nothing to assist the government’s plan to tackle the country’s long-running housing shortage.

The UK’s journey to net-zero could also be impacted by a lack of building talent if a survey conducted by Balfour Beatty and the Supply Chain Sustainability (SCSS) is anything to go by. Of the 270 supply chain members in England, Ireland and Wales contacted for the report between August and October 2022, 96% of respondents said they had a shortfall in access to skilled people in the construction sector to meet net zero by 2050.

The building sector’s struggle to replace retirees with younger operatives is partly to blame for its diminishing talent pool. It highlights the need for greater links between employers and places of education to inspire a new generation to take up tools to help meet the country’s future infrastructural needs.

Andy Neal continued: “I would certainly advise other businesses to engage with their local schools. We can provide real-world experience in a range of jobs that also cater for non-academic youngsters. Gone are the days when construction-based firms could expect to have hundreds of career-hungry school leavers beat a path to their door. As a sector we are competing with many other trades and interests to attract the best young recruits.

“The Local Enterprise Partnership has been a superb vehicle in allowing us to get in front of students to promote ourselves as a business and as a viable career option. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Pingle Academy for its incredible support in establishing a relationship that I trust will remain beneficial to ourselves, the students and the wider community for many years to come.”