Industry giants at war over schools initiative

A furious row has erupted between three of the construction industry's biggest associations over whether there is enough skilled labour to supply the government's £5.1bn flagship Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative.
Weighing in at one corner is the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), which last week questioned the industry's capacity to power the BSF initiative, warning that smaller builders "could lose out on a considerable amount of future public sector work" if they are not involved.
In the other corner are the Construction Confederation (CC) and the Construction Products Association. Both came out fighting, with CC chief executive Stephen Ratcliffe calling the CIOB's views "seriously misguided". He said the industry had never failed to deliver, proving itself to be flexible and adaptable to changes in supply and demand.
Ratcliffe said: "The last thing we need is for mixed messages about the industry's ability to deliver, to raise doubts about capacity or jeopardise the consistent workflow, which is vital to encourage
investment and innovation."
The products association's external affairs director Jean Emblin said the CPA was "staggered" by the CIOB's statement, adding that there was "absolutely no substance to its claims as far as manufacturers are concerned".
However, the CIOB remained defiant this week. In response to the CC's comments, the CIOB's deputy chief executive Michael Brown said: "We would expect the confederation to say that the industry has enough capacity for these high demand projects. But where is the evidence that contractors can meet the higher workload and what are they doing to gear up for the future?
"We know that the UK colleges are full of construction trainees but the take-up of these recruits is not in line with the increased capacity that will be required.
"We should be developing a workforce from our own young trainees that will meet the needs of the future," Brown said.
One industry observer added: "It is extraordinary how the CIOB's comments have roused such opposition. However there are sectors of the industry that are concerned that the Department for Education and Skills could lose its nerve over the sheer scale of this initiative and decide to scale it back.
"There is genuine concern among the smaller contractors that their traditional workload in the education sector is about to be swallowed whole by the big players," he added.