Caroline Gumble on CMYA

Caroline Gumble CIOB

CMYA brought positives in a challenging year

The Construction Manager of the Year Awards showcased the quality of our industry – and this can carry us forward in 2021, says Caroline Gumble

“From the opening for entries, not long before lockdown in the UK, we were astonished and delighted that the quality of submissions didn’t drop at all, despite the circumstances”

Last year saw a lot of us do things

differently, with the Construction Manager of the Year Awards being no exception, going online for the first time in its 42-year history.

Details of our 2020 winners can be found elsewhere in this issue – do take a few minutes to read those articles, as they really reflect the best of the construction management profession.

It’s worth highlighting that the 2020 nominations were incredibly impressive and another example of the remarkable resilience of our industry. From the opening for entries, not long before lockdown in the UK, we were astonished and delighted that the quality of submissions didn’t drop at all, despite the circumstances.

Many of those nominated faced huge challenges over and above their already demanding day jobs – some of our entrants were furloughed for a while or were having to furlough their teams. Some contracted coronavirus and were out of action for a while and, sadly, some faced the loss of loved ones, friends and colleagues.

Those things don’t get reflected in the nominations, but the stories reached us as many of our members and supporters told us what colleagues had overcome, while still delivering the highest of standards on their projects.

A note about our worthy winner, Frank Connolly MCIOB. Across the board, his work was outstanding. The judges commended his “leadership, passion and commitment”, his collaborative approach, and his openness to innovation, including a “cutting-edge” digital strategy. Many congratulations to Frank and his team.

I’m also delighted to highlight another first for 2020 – our first ever Rising Star award winners. My heartfelt congratulations to Annabel Clark, Kelly Attwood and Vasiliki Bowler. The nominations were very impressive and each of them is one to watch as a future leader in our industry.

It’s important to celebrate the fact that there is clearly more of a commitment from the industry to be diverse and inclusive. The case for this is clear, for social, moral and economic reasons. We are a central part of the construction community which creates the buildings we all live, work and play in – the industry needs to better reflect society that we serve. So I’ve been thrilled to see what’s come out of CMYA 2020 – so many positives in a year that presented so many challenges – and I’m already excited about what CMYA 2021 will bring. ●

Caroline Gumble is CEO of the CIOB.

Skilling up for the recovery

Improving digital and decarbonisation skills can help return construction to growth, says Steve Radley

The business of making predictions is fraught with peril, as 2020 showed. So, while we can’t say with certainty what will happen this year, there are a few areas where we can make predictions with some confidence.

The first is that growth will return as employers deal with the backlog of work. Putting an exact figure on it is harder but CITB’s 2021-25 Construction Skills Network interim report forecasts average growth of 5.4% across the next five years, with housing and infrastructure performing best. This projection was made before the encouraging news on vaccines, which may hasten a return to something like normal life with faster growth accompanying it.

The government’s National Infrastructure Strategy was published in November, which provides certainty to contractors to plan ahead and get the right skills in place.

On New Year’s Eve, we ended our Brexit transition. Our departure means there must be a greater focus on growing more of our own talent as our access to migrant workers becomes more restricted.

This is why CITB has been looking at new pathways from further education into the sector, including a new construction traineeship. We are also continuing our work to get more people site-ready through experience at onsite hubs.

Longstanding challenges like boosting productivity will remain, and this is where the recovery can become a catalyst for reinvention. There are real opportunities around offsite construction and digitalisation which should become clearer, and we will help industry to develop the skills needed to push this forward.

The drive towards decarbonisation, underpinned by the UK’s legal mandate to meet net zero by 2050, will accelerate. Boris Johnson’s 10-point plan outlined the opportunities for economic growth as we transform our built environment. Together with a Green Jobs Task Force, which CITB is supporting, this should give industry a clear signal of the government’s intentions and the confidence to invest. 2020 was a year that became largely about survival for construction employers. This year, my prediction is that we get back to growth, and make progress on the sector’s big challenges and opportunities.

Steve Radley is director of strategy and policy at CITB.