Onsite experience opportunities in construction - England

The construction industry in England is projected to grow by 1.2 per cent, and 28,920 jobs will need to be filled each year. Public and private housebuilding and infrastructure are the sectors we expect to grow the most. There are shortfalls in trades and occupations associated with these sectors. However, local skills priorities across England vary: a detailed list is available in the ‘Preparing your application’ section below.

Less than 30 per cent of people studying diplomas in construction end up working in the sector. Those in education need to gain more onsite experience to make them ‘work-ready’ and more attractive to employers.

Detailed local analysis shows that the picture of skills shortages varies across the country. The onsite approach allows a direct response to these skills shortages tailored to the needs of local construction employers and communities.

There are 20 LEP areas which we want to support through this fund:

1. Cheshire and Warrington
2. Coast to Capital (including West Sussex and Surrey)
3. Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
4. Cumbria
5. Dorset
6. GFirst (Gloucestershire)
7. Greater Lincolnshire 
8. Heart of the South West (including Devon and Somerset)
9. Hertfordshire
10. Lancashire 
11. Leeds City Region 
12. Leicester and Leicestershire 
13. New Anglia (including Norfolk and Suffolk)
14. North East (including County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland)
15. Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire 
16. Swindon and Wiltshire
17. Tees Valley Combined Authority (including Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar, Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees)
18. Thames Valley Berkshire (including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes)
19. West of England Combined Authority (including Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire)
20. Worcestershire

Any organisation best placed to deliver the outcome sought.

We especially welcome proposals from organisations that are:

• levy-registered employers who are have construction projects who are looking to employ locally
• federations and/or trade associations who are able to galvanise local construction projects to create a collaborative response
• construction clients and/or leaders of construction projects who want to support their supply partners to access the talent need to deliver high quality work
• training providers and/or training consultancies with strong relationships with construction projects who can galvanise support for an onsite hub.

We have a budget of up to £8.8m to cover at least 14 onsite hubs over a three-year period. CITB will fund up to 70 per cent of the total value of the project.

In the next three years we want to create at least 14 onsite training hubs in the 20 LEP areas which do not currently benefit from the Construction Skills Fund. 

The expected results are:

• 10,000 individuals will benefit from receiving onsite experience
• 7,300 individuals will become employment and site ready
• At least 3,650 of these site ready individuals will be offered sustained employment
• At least 14 onsite training hubs will create a sustainable infrastructure for talent.

By focusing the response to local occupational requirements and siting the hubs in the right place, local employers will also be motivated to support the sustained future of the hubs.

This is a two-stage process.

1. Register your interest in the commission by completing the expression of interest form which will be live from 22 July 2019. Please answer all the questions.
   
   The deadline for submitting an expression of interest is 5pm Monday 11 November 2019.
2. The expression of interest is not scored and does not constitute a commitment to making an application, although the funding team will review your form and provide feedback on your idea. If your idea matches the criteria for this commission, we will guide you through the application stage.

Submit an expression of interest for this commission

22 July 2019  - expression of interest window opens

11 November 2019 - expression of interest closes at 5pm

30 September 2019 - application window opens

25 November 2019 - deadline to submit applications at 5pm

You must submit an expression of interest first – if your proposal is compatible with the commission, you will be invited to submit a full application.

Your project should focus on flexible solutions, tailored to the construction training and employment needs of your chosen LEP area. You project should:

• demonstrate how you intend to create an environment to give easy access to onsite experience
• provide the opportunity for re-skilling workers where employers require it
• explore how your onsite hub will support the construction projects identified 
• create the momentum for individuals to access employment opportunities.

Your application should demonstrate how you will utilise your chosen solution, such as mobile onsite training hubs, fixed infrastructure or non-physical hub solutions to deliver your onsite experience and employment objectives.

Research highlights a variety of local construction skills and employment requirements across the LEP areas (as detailed below). You are encouraged to explore local construction project requirements and employer recruitment needs, whilst considering the local skills needs highlighted by the research.

Your project should focus on one or more of the following LEP areas:

Cheshire and Warrington

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineering operatives
• Painters and decorators   
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers
• Specialist building operatives
• Wood trades and interior fit-out 

Coast to Capital (including West Sussex and Surrey)

• Civil engineering operatives  
• Construction project managers
• Construction trades supervisors
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant operatives
• Scaffolders
• Steel erectors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Cornwall and Isles of Scilly

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineering operatives
• Construction project managers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators           
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Cumbria

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineering operatives
• Civil engineers
• Construction trades supervisors
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant mechanics/fitters
• Specialist building operatives
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Dorset

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction project managers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers
• Specialist building operatives
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

GFirst (including Gloucestershire)

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineering operatives
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators           
• Plant operatives
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers
• Specialist building operatives
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Greater Lincolnshire

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineering operatives
• Civil engineers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Scaffolders
• Specialist building operatives
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Heart of the South West (including Devon and Somerset)

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction project managers
• Floorers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers           
• Specialist building operatives
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Hertfordshire

• Civil engineering operatives
• Construction project managers
• Construction trades supervisors
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant operatives
• Steel erectors
• Surveyors

Lancashire 

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction trades supervisors
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers
• Specialist building operatives
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Leeds City Region 

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineers
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant operatives
• Roofers
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Leicester and Leicestershire 

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction project managers
• Construction supervisors
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Other construction professional and technical staff
• Painters and decorators
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

New Anglia (including Norfolk and Suffolk)

• Bricklayers
• Civil engineers
• Construction trades supervisors
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant operatives
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Scaffolders
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

North East (including County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland)

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineers 
• Construction process managers
• Construction professional and technical staff
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators           
• Speciablist uilding operatives
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire 

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction project managers
• Construction trades supervisors
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Specialist building operatives
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Swindon and Wiltshire

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction project managers
• Floorers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers
• Specialist building operatives
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Tees Valley Combined Authority (including Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar, Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees)

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Civil engineering operatives
• Civil engineers
• Construction project managers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant mechanics/fitters
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit out

Thames Valley Berkshire (including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes)

• Civil engineering operatives
• Construction project managers
• Construction trades supervisors
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plant operatives
• Steel erectors
• Surveyors

West of England Combined Authority (including Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire)

• Bricklayers
• Building envelope specialists
• Construction project managers
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Roofers           
• Specialist building operatives
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

Worcestershire

• Bricklayers
• Civil engineers
• Floorers
• Labourers
• Painters and decorators           
• Plasterers and dry liners
• Steel erectors
• Surveyors
• Wood trades and interior fit-out

You can propose a phased project bid, and projects can last up to three years.

If your bid is successful, your projects must start within three months of us notifying you.

Find out about more on the momentum behind this commission from the experience of the Construction Skills Fund

Pre-application webinars

We are hosting webinars on the following dates to provide further information on the commission and some further details about how to apply. Please use the links below to register:

Application support webinars

We will also host webinars to coincide with the application window from 3 October 2019. These sessions will give you an opportunity to find out more about the application process and how you can maximise the quality of your application.

Details of these application support webinars will be provided to you when you are issued with an application pack.