Construction Futures NI: Advancing Northern Irelands construction Industry
From an article published in Agenda NI, read full article here: https://www.agendani.com/construction-futures-ni-advancing-northern-irelands-construction-industry
(L:R): Fionnuala McKenna (Construction Futures NI); Conor Murphy MLA (then-Department for the Economy Minister); Minister Caoimhe Archibald MLA (Department of Finance Minister); and Mark Spence (Construction Employers Federation).
Construction Futures NI was created following last year’s EY Industry Skills Review. This is a company owned and operated jointly by the employers, through the Construction Employers Federation, CEF, and the employee representatives from the Unite and GMB Unions. The joint objective is to identify a range of challenges faced by the industry and to develop meaningful solutions to these. By focusing on informing, attracting, developing, and retaining talent, Construction Futures aims to push the construction sector forward in Northern Ireland.
The skills issues facing Northern Ireland’s construction industry are many and varied. The sector is complex with a broad landscape of employers and skills providers with limited points of coordination between them. It faces stiff competition for resources with the rest of Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and at home competition is provided by existing and emerging sectors with retention of staff an ongoing challenge.
Government is the main source of pipeline for the industry, commissioned by various local departments (primarily health, education, communities, and infrastructure) with the Department of Finance responsible for developing procurement policy. The Department for the Economy owns the skills agenda for Northern Ireland, however, to influence the perception of construction in schools, the Department of Education has an important role to play.
