The construction industry is presently facing one of the worst skills shortages in recent memory. FM Conway, has taken matters into its own hands, setting up the London Highways Academy of Excellence to help tackle the crisis.

Throughout the highways industry, and indeed the wider construction sector, the biggest challenge currently faced by employers is not a lack of commercial growth but a lack of skilled employees to meet the growing infrastructure demand; from site operatives through to top-level engineers. 

"A unique aspect of the Academy’s offering is a course specially designed for inexperienced, young job-seekers – often those who’ve never worked before – to help them take their first steps into a new career." 

A report published in September by Infrastructure UK, National Infrastructure Plan for Skills, found that the demand for extra workers created by the rise in infrastructure investment will not be met at current rates of recruitment, potentially threatening major road, rail and energy projects. The report estimates that there could be a shortfall of nearly 100,000 workers by the end of the decade.

The prevalence of this problem was one of the reasons why FM Conway, in partnership with the Worshipful Company of Paviors and CONWAY AECOM (FM Conway’s joint venture with AECOM), set up a new training organisation called the London Highways Academy of Excellence (www.lhae.co.uk). The Academy provides vital skills training for the construction industry and its employees. 

The concept behind the Academy was that it would serve not only FM Conway and its partners, but anyone in the highways sector that needed to deliver basic skills training to trainees, apprentices and prospective and current employees. Since its inception, both contractors and local authorities are making good use of the Academy to recruit apprentices and deliver cross company training.

A unique aspect of the Academy’s offering is a course specially designed for inexperienced, young job-seekers – often those who’ve never worked before – to help them take their first steps into a new career. Called the London Pass, the course has Bronze, Silver and Gold levels of accreditation, and provides guidance on key areas ranging from timekeeping and personal appearance through to health and safety, customer care and sustainability. While the course is well-suited to those keen to work in construction, it’s open to anyone looking to kick-start their career in the capital, and provides an accreditation that will help candidates to stand out from the competition regardless of the industry sector.

The Academy also runs a pre-apprenticeship programme. Fully-funded, the two week course aims to give young people - in particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds - the skills to secure jobs that were previously out of their reach.  Those who complete the programme receive the London Pass accreditation, and although only launched in July last year, it has already begun to have an impact. Of the twenty-one young Londoners who took part in the last course, thirteen have since gone on to secure full-time apprenticeships with FM Conway, CONWAY AECOM and other contractors.

By raising the profile of a career in construction and giving people of all abilities the tools they need to excel, the Academy strives to demonstrate that employers, regardless of industry sector, can work to resolve their own skills crises.