Key figures to attend Building Plymouth summit
Developers will be asked to help support the city’s innovative plan to get more people into construction at a summit taking place next week.
Plymouth City Council is hosting its Building Plymouth summit and key figures from major construction companies including Kier, Midas, Ryearch and LTC will be at the event to hear the latest on the Council-led partnership to address a looming skills shortage – it is estimated that 10,000 jobs will be needed over the next ten years.
Council leader Tudor Evans said: “We have been working very hard to improve the links between the trade, our education establishments and our young people to make them aware of the doors that open in construction.
“We want more homes and more businesses in Plymouth and want more young people to be part of the action. We have so much development in the pipeline – it’s really exciting – but we need to make sure Plymouth people are on those sites and in those offices.”
The Council has embarked on its ambitious ‘Plan for Homes’ – which involves building 5,000 homes over five years to relieve the current housing crisis. Overall building projects in the pipeline indicate that 10,000 new jobs in construction will be created over the next 10 years.
The Council has been working with the industry on a series of initiatives to encourage people to look at careers in construction.
Initiatives include
- Taster roadshows on bricklaying and plastering across the city’s neighbourhoods
- MiSpace opened up its Mount Wise development so young people could see work on site as well as ask staff and contractors questions.
- A head of skills has been appointed to improve co-ordination between building businesses, education establishments and training providers
- A marketing campaign to raise awareness of opportunities and great wages in construction.
The Council is working with Skills South West on the region's biggest skills and careers event for young people which takes place this week at Plymouth Pavilions
For more information visit www.plymouth.gov.uk/buildingplymouth
