Newsletter editorial - 26.05.05

contractjournal.com Newsletter - 26.05.05

Bad news week for construction highlights problem industry has in attracting new blood

A CSCS scandal, payment disputes, firms going bust and insufficent funding fears - let's hope it is the exception rather than the norm

The construction sector will have been rocked this week by an "industry scandal" whereby workers at a plant firm are charged £660 - more than 20 times the going rate - for a Construction Skills Cetification Card (CSCS).

But the lead story on CJ's front page this week sums up the general theme. Also on page one we report a legal tussle with Amey Ventures over nearly £1m-worth of work carried out on a privately-financed Royal High School in Edinburgh.

Turn the page and the headline roars 'ADH goes under as Mowlem refuses to pay' - an outstanding payment of £1.8m from a multi-million pound turnover contractor has forced a small creditor out of business with 33 innocent employees losing their jobs.

And opposite that the Ministry of Defence has admitted that the delivery of its regional prime contracts, worth some £3bn to the industry, is under threat because of uncertainty over programming and funds.

But hang on...its not all doom and gloom - CITB-ConstructionSkills has revealed that levy income rose £16.6m and grant intake increased 8.3% on last year.

The encouraging figures, contained in the training body's annual report for 2004, show that the number of people wanting to enter the industry continues to rise. The success of securing a GCSE in construction and the built environment, which is being piloted from September, is further reason to be optimistic.

But any more weeks where pages are dominated by money-making scams, legal tussles, company's going into liquidation and funding uncertainty will only ensure that those who are entering in their droves will be counterbalanced by those fed up with working in an industry dogged by dispute and controversy.

The message is simple - the construction industry has to clean up its act. It's up to you to help that happen.