Where have all the BIM trainees gone?

Skills shortages are nothing new in the construction industry. As the economy moves through its cycles of boom and bust, so too do the fortunes of construction. But a number of factors have come together to make this a particularly challenging period for recruitment at all levels, including trainees.

Low supply . . .

Investment in training in the UK has been low for years now, with firms relying on a ready supply of skilled workers from the EU to make up for the shortfall of domestic talent. But Brexit has made working in the UK more complex; the drop in value of the pound against the Euro has made it less financially attractive; and Covid-19 has driven many people home. The construction industry also has an ageing demographic – 20% are currently in their 50s, with many heading for retirement over the next few years. This reflects the boom in construction and expansion of jobs in the 1980s, which drew thousands into the industry. From 2000 onwards however, periods of expansion tended to be supported by workers from abroad – which can’t necessarily be relied on anymore.

. . . meets high demand

We’re also entering a period of high demand. Governments globally see construction as a route to recovery after the pandemic; the UK is no exception, with the CITB estimating that construction will need to recruit 216,800 new workers by 2025 to meet demand. BIM is playing an increasingly larger role in new construction projects, so a good supply of trainees is vital to keep the wheels turning and drive the industry forward.

The Government has begun to address the problem with its new Skills Bootcamps initiative, which offers free training in key areas, including digital construction. However, as Chris Crookes of BIMBox points out, demand is increasing so rapidly that supply cannot keep up. “Top-down drivers such as the Construction Playbook, ISO 19650, the UK BIM Framework and the increasing maturity of asset owner parties and their requirements are placing increased demands upon the industry. The value case for the delivery of data rich asset models or digital twins has been proven, and will require vastly increased resource to deliver.” Put simply, BIM is the future.

The pandemic has also made it harder for companies to engage with trainees. “We’ve all been working remotely and it’s difficult to manage trainees like this,” says Michael Boyd, Head of Digital Services at WSP. “Just like the 2008 financial crisis, we will see the real impact in about five years across the skill spread.”

Youth appeal

Construction has struggled to appeal to young people for several years. This is a particular problem for BIM as digital skills are in high demand across industries that are seen as more attractive options, such as film, communications and marketing, software development and data science. Efforts have been made to boost the industry’s image and engage with children – for example, the CIOB’s Minecraft construction game, and the CITB funded BIM4Education initiative – but there is still the opportunity to do more.
“Autodesk does a good job of allowing schools to use their tools, and STEM is having success in raising the profile of these subjects,” says Michael. “But we need more practical skills. I think the CIOB is doing great work but on the whole, the industry bodies could still do more.” Talking about BIM at an earlier stage could also help as many young people have no idea what it is. “BIM is rarely mentioned as a possible career choice and even within architectural education is often, at best, a brief bolt-on module,” says Chris. “We need to increase engagement with schools and colleges.”

Great pay expectations

With candidate salary expectations often higher than companies are willing – or can afford – to pay, firms often recruit candidates with less experience than they ideally want. Mike Johnson, from Johnson BIM, explains that this strategy is drying up the talent pool at earlier stages. “For many companies, trainees are an affordable solution. Candidates with limited experience are filling more experienced roles, leaving no one for the more junior positions. So, companies will have to take on trainees and give them that experience themselves.” And this means even more trainees are needed.

The answer is . . .

Whatever the answer to our initial question – they are being too quickly absorbed by the increase in demand, or they are starting digital careers in other industries – the problem is the same. There are not enough BIM trainees, and this will seriously impact on the ability of construction to fully embrace BIM and benefit from its many advantages.

To help solve this problem, DBE.Careers is working with Skills Bootcamps to bring over 300 BIM trainees to the industry during 2022. The first cohort are now completing their courses. These are people who have committed a significant proportion of their time to the subject, have been trained in the basics of BIM or more advanced scripting and data science. Many will be looking for positions. Companies will be able to contact them through the DBE.Careers Trainee Directory – completely free of charge. It’s a fantastic opportunity to find and nurture the talent you need, and help drive digital construction forward.