CITB and HBF partner to set training standards for building sector

The CITB and Home Builders Federation have joined forces to form the Homebuilding Skills Partnership [HSP], that will establish a framework to set "common standards" for skills and training in the housebuilding sector. Costing £3.8m in total, CITB will contribute £2.7m to the initiative, HBF will supply the remaining funding, while the actual cost of training new and existing workers will come from the employers themselves. The partnership is one of 20 specialised training initiatives across a range of sectors, including infrastructure, that will receive a portion of £7m of funding from the CITB.

Relevance: The HSP will be overseen by a board chaired by Redrow CEO John Tuttle.

The CITB and Home Builders Federation have joined forces to develop a set of training standards for the housebuilding sector.

The Homebuilding Skills Partnership will establish a framework that will set “common standards” for skills and training in the housebuilding sector.

It is hoped the partnership will help employers train 45,000 new workers and 1,000 experienced workers through the new housebuilding qualifications by 2019.

CITB director of policy Steve Radley told Construction News the 46,000 workers figure is based on what the CITB estimates the housebuilding industry will need over the next four years.

Housebuilding is forecast to continue growing in the medium term and the sector will also need to replace people who leave the industry.

In total the initiative is expected to cost £3.8m. Of that total, £2.7m will come from the CITB, with the HBF contributing the remaining funding.

Mr Radley said he envisaged a “significant proportion” of the funding would be used to set up the new framework in the first year.

The actual cost of training new and existing workers will come from the employers themselves, he said.

Asked what would happen to employers who did not train workers using the new qualifications, Mr Radley said: “It will be the job of the industry to ensure the new qualifications meet the needs of the industry and there is buy-in for them.”

The partnership will also design a new analysis tool for housebuilding training and developmental needs to ensure the right level of training is delivered to workers, and will carry out research into the barriers faced by the sector.

The HSP will be overseen by a board chaired by Redrow chief executive John Tutte, and will include other senior housebuilding and CITB representatives.

The partnership is one of 20 specialised training initiatives across a range of sectors, including infrastructure, that will receive a portion of £7m of funding from the CITB.

Mr Radley said further detail will be released over the coming weeks.