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CIC Cascade19 July 2006
1. CIC and RICS South East join South East England Regional Assembly Following a request from the CIC Regional Committee, CIC South East formerly became a member of the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) on 12 July 2006 at SEERA’s Annual Meeting held in Hove , West Sussex . The South East England Regional Assembly is the representative voice of the region. It is comprised of 112 members who include elected councilors who are nominated by the region's local authorities. A number of sectors working in the region are also represented such as environmental groups, business and economic partners and faith communities. The Assembly exists to advise and promote the South East’s interests to Government on regional issues such as regional planning, housing priorities and sustainable development. The Assembly provides a forum for regional debate with hot topics at the Annual Meeting being the development of the Regional Economic Strategy by SEEDA (South East England Development Agency), the presentation of the SEEDA Annual Report and a discussion about the impact of the Diamonds for Growth initiative on rural communities. This initiative concentrates on eight ‘city-regions’ in the South East which have been identified as the focus for growth and investment. Following confirmation of the CIC-South East Region’s status as a full Economic Partner at the Annual Meeting, the Committee will be represented on the Assembly by Graham Anderson , the Chairman of CIC-South East. Graham has been attending recent Assembly meetings as an observer to fully understand the workings of the Assembly. With confirmation of the RICS-South East Region’s Assembly membership on the same day, CIC is looking forward to a substantially strengthened relationship between the Built Environment sector and SEERA in the future. For more information about CIC-South East please contact Janette Welton (Email jwelton@cic.org.uk). 2. ConstructionSkills and BACH call for more Construction teachers Recent industry forecasting from ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for Construction identifies that 348,000 more employees will be needed for the construction industry by 2010, but a survey of construction teaching staff unveiled today reveals that, without greater investment in teacher recruitment and retention in further education colleges, targets won’t be met. The survey was commissioned by the British Association of Construction Heads (BACH), the association which represents those who manage construction education and training in colleges. The purpose of the survey was to help increase awareness of the issue and create discussion on appropriate action to take. Already ConstructionSkills and BACH have decided to hold a joint workshop in November to look at ways of tackling the issues and plan to use the surveys findings to lobby the Department for Education and Skills. BACH sent the survey to all of the colleges of further education offering construction provision throughout England and Wales . It received replies from 80% of the colleges, covering almost 2000 construction teachers. Key findings include:
The survey discovered that the annual rate of staff turnover was 16.4% amongst construction teachers compared to an average of 3% for teachers across all other occupational areas. The North of England had the highest annual staff turnover amongst construction teachers at 22.7%. Key recruitment and retention problems identified by the survey included:
The survey indicated that difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff were restricting the expansion of the existing curriculum as well as their ability to develop new provision. Sheila Hoile, Skills Strategy Director, CITB-ConstructionSkills: “The volume of replies to the survey is indicative of the strength of feeling in the sector. It is a very serious problem and one which we are working with BACH to find ways to improve. The survey is extremely timely because ConstructionSkills has just launched its own figures identifying that the UK construction industry will continue to experience strong growth, with construction output expected to rise by 12.7% by 2010. The BACH survey is a stark warning that it is now more important than ever that the industry is supported by a strong well-resourced training infrastructure.” Clive Weston, National Chairman of BACH: “The demand from construction personnel and new entrants to the industry, to study and train in colleges of further education is at its highest for the past 10 years. Colleges are anxious to capitalise on this sustained growth but are finding recruitment and retention of construction teachers a headache and in some cases a barrier to expansion. This survey enables us to get below the anecdotal and helps us pinpoint and understand the underlying issues.” Paul Munroe, Head of Construction at York College said: “It’s interesting to see from the survey that the difficulties in recruiting and retaining construction teachers is a national issue. It’s reassuring to know that the Sector Skills Council and BACH recognise that there is a problem and are taking steps to address it.” As well as working with BACH to tackle the number of suitably trained staff ConstructionSkills is already working on a recruitment campaign with Lifelong Learning UK to promote the benefits of teaching to employees in the construction industry and inviting them to retrain. Plumbing industry organisations are receiving an increasing number of complaints from people who have paid large sums of money for ‘fast track’ training to become plumbers only to discover that the training is inadequate, the advertised qualifications are not fully achieved and/or the promise of lucrative work is non-existent. Examples include:
The industry is working to find a solution to this problem, but it is complex as these training providers are operating within the law. In the meantime the key messages for people interested in a career in plumbing are:
4. Simplifying the planning regime and giving householder's choice Last week DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) announced proposals which will have the potential to transform the planning regime as it affects householders. Responding to a significant growth in the number of planning applications for householder developments and evidence that the existing system for handling these applications is not user-friendly, DCLG have accepted the recommendations of the Householder Development Consents Review to extend and simplify permitted development rights and to introduce user choice for householders through alternative service providers. Review Steering Group says certain householder applications and those for small scale micro-renewable technology - such as solar water heating and small wind turbines - should be allowed to go ahead without the need for a planning application and, that the need for applications for development such as extensions and other household alterations should be judged on their impact rather than volume or size. The review also proposes streamlining the planning system for household extensions that require planning permission but where neighbours do not object. These proposals offer the potential for householders to determine for themselves through e-tools whether a development is permitted or not or alternatively to obtain an insurance-backed lawful development certificate from a range of providers including home improvement companies providing their clients a more streamlined one-stop shop service. This is something which they would currently have to go through their local council for. With the aim of the recommendations to streamline the planning rules and extending permitted rights "self certification" and the issuing of lawful development certificates by alternative providers could become the norm. The review also recommended - and also accepted by DCLG - that DCLG should continue the dialogue, stimulated by the review, with policymakers, practitioners, current and potential suppliers about the role of alternative provision and new ways of working in the processing of planning applications. In commenting upon this wider potential the review's report states that given "around 90% of planning decisions are already delegated to planning officers without referral to the local authority's planning committee. With Local Authorities now enjoying the freedom to contract-out more decision making in other areas including highways, education and the administration of housing benefit, the implications for extending this to planning decisions need to be more fully explored." PWC working for us are currently developing a discussion paper, building upon their earlier work for us on regulatory services on these issues which we expect to publish this autumn. Following the report the Government is now examining ways to streamline and simplify the system. By focussing on impact, the Government is looking to remove unnecessary applications whilst increasing protections for neighbours. This means the planning system can focus more resources on major developments. The Government plans to consult on detailed proposals in the autumn. Any changes to the planning system will come into effect in 2007. You can find a copy of the review's report at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1501259 and a copy of the announcement at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2195 Roger Flanagan, Professor of Construction Management at Reading University becomes the Chartered Institute of Building’s (CIOB) 103rd President. Roger is also a part-time professor at Chalmers University in Gothenburg , Sweden . He is currently a guest professor at Chongqing University, People’s Republic of China; a visiting professor at both the University of Cape Town, South Africa and Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. Roger has also worked as a visiting professor in Hong Kong, USA, Australia and Malaysia . Roger is a member of the Board of Directors of Skanska AB, Sweden and a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of Halcrow. He is also an adviser to the engineering and construction sector of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland . In addition, Roger has authored and co-authored eleven books and over one hundred academic papers. Taking over from Allan McMullen Immediate Past President, Roger said, “I see the job of the Institute as one that enthuses people; we must continue to be forward-looking, focused, far reaching and fun. “The challenges we are facing in the UK such as increasing red tape, labour shortages and making greater use of off-site construction are shared challenges. We are the fifth largest construction market. Whether we like it or not we are part of the global industry. So goods will be coming from China and we will be importing human resources. The whole industry is being driven by a similar agenda.” “The other big issue for construction grapple with is its people. The value of people in the next eras is going to be crucial. It’s right that we have financial targets but at the end of the day it all comes down to people.” New CIOB Officers
Teambuild 2006 is the definitive training-based competition for young design and construction professionals. This year’s competition is being organised by the ICE, in association with the RICS and 12 other key organisations in the industry. As in previous, Teambuild 2006 will aim to promote and improve communications between the different disciplines in the construction industry. Richard Schofield of the RICS said, “Teambuild provides a unique challenge for young construction professionals to test their abilities in an enjoyable but demanding environment. All participants have an opportunity to learn new skills, build confidence and appreciate first hand the power of planning, team dynamics and collaborative problem solving. It is an immensely rewarding experience for teams, organisers and judges, an exciting opportunity to meet new people, share ideas and above all, win or lose, enjoy an exciting (and exhausting!) weekend” For more details on how your young professionals can be part of this exciting competition visit www.teambuilduk.com or email teambuild@ice.org.uk Teams must register by 18 August 2006 7. Sustainable communities to benefit from professional institutes Pan-Professional initiative Professional institutes and similar member organisations from the Northwest are celebrating after signing a pan-professional ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ for sustainable communities, the first of its kind in the UK, which will provide their individual members better access to resources, shared learning and the means to continuously develop their generic skills. The initiative, arranged by RENEW Northwest, the organisation set up by the Northwest Regional Development Agency to promote regeneration best practice and excellence in the region and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), will see a mix of professions, including economic development practitioners, architects, urban designers, civil engineers and those in construction, sharing Continued Professional Development (CPD), relevant to delivering sustainable communities. This new approach has been set up in response to the government’s 2004 Egan Task Force report that noted all disciplines involved in delivering sustainable communities needed to have the necessary generic skills, behaviour and knowledge, for example, leadership, partnership working, analysis and evaluation, to help achieve the necessary improvements in the communities they serve. The Egan Task Force also called for multi-disciplinary teams to better able to work together. The organisations include ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers), RTPI (Royal Town Planning Institute), Landscape Institute, RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), IED (Institute of Economic Development), UDG (Urban Design Group), CIC (Construction Industry Council) and RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) The action points included in the Memorandum of Understanding cover shared planning, shared communications, joint delivery and links to employers, colleges, universities and other providers. The new approach between the professional institutes and similar member organisations comes at a time when over £24 billion a year is being spent in the Northwest on regeneration and economic renewal in a sector currently employing over 15,000. Roger Burton of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) in the North West said, “The Construction Industry Council in the Northwest welcomes the signing of the Memorandum which is an outcome of the collaboration between all the construction professionals which the CIC was set up to encourage over a decade ago. We hope all professionals in the Northwest will begin to access the cross-professional opportunities available which can only offer benefits in terms of increased knowledge, understanding and integration of activities.” Phil Barton, Director of RENEW Northwest said, “Effective regeneration can only be achieved when all professions, be it the architect, construction worker or community leader, work together in partnership. We are therefore delighted that the regions professional institutes have made this significant commitment to improving the way all disciplines involved in delivering sustainable communities will work and learn together in the future.” He continued, “The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding launches a series of joint initiatives and new opportunities, facilitated by RENEW Northwest, for continued professional development. This excellent initiative will not only bring real benefits to the profession, but also to the communities the professionals serve.” For further information visit www.RENEW.co.uk 8. Events The events page of the CIC website is frequently updated visit the events page for details. |
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