CITB and EH hatch skills shortage plan

CITB-ConstructionSkills and English Heritage (EH) have drawn up an action plan to address the skills shortage in traditional building crafts.
Fewer than 80,000 tradespeople are skilled in traditional building crafts - that represents just 4% of the construction workforce, according to CITB-ConstructionSkills. However, 30% of the country's housing stock pre-dates 1919 and there are 1,500 Grade I and Grade II-listed buildings on the EH's Buildings At Risk register.
Among the trades suffering skills shortages are stone
slate roofing, graining and marbling.
CITB-ConstructionSkills and EH have signed a sector skills agreement that sets the following objectives:
nÊAssembling a national and regional strategy to support training, knowledge and skills provision.
nÊQuantifying and validating the scope and size of traditional skills needs for the next three to five years.
nÊCo-ordinating the provision
of traditional skills training, including: optional NVQ3 conservation units in construction apprenticeships; lobbying for the establishment of specialist centres of vocational excellence; and adult apprenticeship funding to attract career changers to the sector.
nÊEstablishing pre-tender training and qualification requirements for grant-aided work.
nÊDeveloping and delivering recruitment campaigns for traditional crafts.