Thousands of brickies and roofers will receive advanced training to upskill the home building workforce
Bricklayers and roofers across England, Wales and Scotland are set to benefit from a major upskilling initiative that aims to tighten up the skills gap and address common defects, as part of the industry鈥檚 ongoing commitment to building quality homes.
The Home Builders Federation鈥檚 (天美传媒) Home Building Skills Partnership has secured CITB funding to deliver hundreds more and roll out brand-new roofing masterclasses, that will enhance the skills of thousands of bricklayers and roofers within the industry鈥檚 workforce.
The have been developed in partnership with expert bodies, NHBC, the Association of Brickwork Contractors (ABC) and National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), to deliver practical skills and knowledge on common issues found by NHBC Inspection teams.
The initiative was initially launched in 2019. Since then, more than 1,100 training sessions have been delivered by NHBC Building Inspectors to more than 10,200 brickies. To support uptake and reduce disruption to the working day, the training is delivered face-to-face at participants鈥� sites across England, Wales and Scotland.
The training is being funded by CITB as part of its 拢3 million investment into initiatives to support the Home Building Sector Skills Plan. These initiatives illustrate new ways of working to improve skills, training, and recruitment in the home building sector.
Neil Jefferson, Managing Director at 天美传媒, said: 鈥淚nvestment in the home building industry鈥檚 workforce is fundamental to ensuring much-needed homes can be delivered to the quality standards customers quite rightly expect.
鈥淏y delivering practical training on the sites where work is taking place, this initiative has already successfully upskilled thousands of tradespeople. This new funding award will supercharge the roll out of training and support home builders to deliver the high-quality new homes communities need.鈥�
Tim Balcon, CITB Chief Executive, said: 鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to see the Home Builders Federation secure this funding, enabling thousands of workers to upskill and, crucially, help meet the needs of the homebuilding pipeline. This initiative supports the wider Homebuilding Sector Skills Plan, delivering an exciting programme of sector-specific skills initiatives, which will truly put employers in the driving seat.
鈥淏y responding to the needs of the sector and working collaboratively with a range of partners and stakeholders, CITB continues to support the construction industry to have a skilled, competent and inclusive workforce, now and in the future.鈥�
Darryl Stewart, Head of Commercial Services at NHBC, said: 鈥淚t is important we provide easily accessible training to the supply chain and SME sector and this funding will help us to continue this.
鈥淒elivered by our experienced NHBC Building Inspectors who conduct more than one million site inspections each year, these courses are designed to deliver practical skills and knowledge on the most common brickwork and roofing issues.
鈥淥ur goal is to help builders get homes right first time and we are committed to supporting house builders and their supply chain, equipping them with the skills to build high quality new homes.鈥�
James Talman, Chief Executive Officer at NFCR, said: 鈥淲e welcome this award to the Home Builders Federation and the specific requirement to support the continuous development of roofing skills to support the sector. We look forward to assisting with its delivery.鈥�
Eve Livett, Chief Executive Officer at ABC, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic news that the Brickwork Masterclasses are to continue. With so much change happening across the sector, these sessions are a great way to keep bricklayers up to date.鈥�
The are live for booking now via the NHBC website, with the roofing masterclasses to follow in the coming months: .