It was only a generation ago that when young people were thinking about what to do with their lives, the adults close to them might have urged them to “get a trade”. Having the skills and knowledge to create something real and lasting using your hands and your brain was seen as a hugely valuable asset – and good fun to boot.
But there has been a tangible change in attitude. Today, university is the first choice for the majority of young people. I am not knocking a university education – it works for many people and many roles in construction need graduates to fill them – but learning a trade should be seen as an equally valuable career option.
The construction industry is on the precipice of a crisis; it desperately needs to find an additional 220,000 workers over the next five years. Parents and teachers need to understand that there is real career progression, real choice (not to mention pretty decent wages), and honour in being part of a team that delivers the nation’s schools, hospitals, public buildings and, crucially, the homes that the young are being deprived of. If they don’t, we are in danger of becoming a nation of management consultants with no offices to consult in and beauticians with no beauty parlours to beautify in.
Career snobbery is holding back economic growth and constraining our potential; the creative industries are a British success story often put on a pedestal by politicians. But many of the ideas we come up with would lie idle without people to manifest them. At HemingwayDesign, the agency I co-founded, we consider skilled tradespeople to be equal to the design team – we would be a non-starter without them.
That is why I am so passionate about the Go Construct campaign. Too often working in construction is seen as negative – a fall-back career if you didn’t work hard enough at school. Those ideas are an insulting caricature to those who shape and craft the world around us. From iconic buildings such as Sage Gateshead to infrastructure projects such as London’s Crossrail or vital services like the new Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital – construction workers made them with skill, pride and professionalism.
One of the most memorable experiences of my youth was working in a team constructing the M58 motorway near Skelmersdale in the late 1970s. I learned really valuable skills, made lifelong friends and had a proper laugh as part of a team of skilled professionals who took pride in their work. Every time I drive along it I say, “I helped build this”.
Construction careers are diverse and exciting too. Among those 220,000 roles are jobs for those with no qualifications through to those with a string of letters after their name. Steel fixers to occupational health doctors, to sustainability experts and cost consultants – they all want to deliver a physical legacy and be proud to have helped make it happen.
If we are to achieve our nation’s potential, we need to reverse the career snobbery that has resulted in some “trades” being considered a poor option. We need to be proud of our construction industry and celebrate the people who build great things as much as we celebrate those who have great ideas.
We need to help people understand what construction careers are really like in 2015 and how, regardless of your skills, background or qualifications you can be part of a real British industrial success story, as well as helping to shape our nation’s future.
