DCS Chair appointed to CITB England Nation Council

Back in 2009 through to 2011, I was appointed to contribute towards the EHRC (‘the Commission’) led “Inquiry into Race Discrimination in the Construction Industry”. As the soon to be appointed Chair of the same Inquiry, one of the key outcome(s) of that collective effort was the ‘Fairness Inclusion and Respect’ Agenda [aka FIR]; which was subsequently gifted by ‘the Commission’ to the CITB and is still alive, relevant and as purposeful today, almost a decade later.

The CITB is the statutory skills body for the construction industry in Great Britain and its purpose is to make better provision for the training and maintenance of skills in the industry. CITB raises around £200m annually via a training levy, and works closely with employers and the Government to ensure national construction skills needs are met.

“We are looking for influential people from the construction sector who believe they can make a difference and make a contribution to the work of the Council.

The key things we are looking for, aside from relevant experience and knowledge of the sector, which you clearly have, are a passion for the sector, particularly around skills, competence, recruitment and pipeline of talent and an open approach to challenge and change.” _ Senior Representative, CITB

Through it’s longstanding ambition to sustainably raise standards at all levels and across all sections and sub-sectors of the construction industry, the CITB aspires to be at the forefront of effective commissioning, capacity building and skills development. The ultimate goal is to unlock and enable a conducive framework [via an eco-system of mini-frameworks] which will create the culture and conditions capable of delivering new ways of working, continuously embrace new technologies, whilst creating a demand in construction for more skills, new skills and higher level skills. Digital skills will remain a key pillar of the requisite skillset for the individual, organisation and future sector wide growth. The immediate challenge for the industry’s leadership must be to equip itself in order to realise this ambition and rise to this multi-faceted challenge.

In a post-pandemic, world where #WFH (working from home) has been normalised thus introducing a new ‘hybrid’ style of work flow / project delivery; the industry has a unique opportunity to deliver on Industry 4.0 in readiness for the next level of automation and process level intelligence [namely, Industry 5.0].

Today, [on 01.09.21] I start a new chapter as an appointed CITB England Nation Council Member. Working closely with my peers, and an array of professional bodies, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ‘RICS’ and the Chartered Institute of Building ‘CIOB’. I recently commenced an industry initiative called #PQS2030, which is a bold attempt to bring a vision (spanning 27 years) for Construction Cost & Project Management, into a fearless reality. Essentially, and like others, the Surveying profession is at a crossroads in its 153 year history, due largely to the challenge of digital transformation. However, unlike other sectors, the built environment professions have and maintain the largest opportunity to reinvent and transform itself. If successful, the construction industry will also better position itself in the wider interests of meeting specific ‘client facing’ needs whilst allowing us to build back better, meaning safer, better, faster, leaner, greener and ultimately less expensive, all of which stems from an aspiration that I’ve personally maintained since graduating from my first degree [back in 1994].

I have to extend a personal thank you to Stephen Cole for bringing this opportunity to my attention and to his entire team for making the journey to this point, truly worthwhile. However, the achievement of this appointment is dedicated to my parents and my young family, along with all the dreamers whom I have met along the way. Many will know that I’ve never been more excited in my own 30year career, despite having to rebuild it from scratch, but for now, it’s time to get to work ………

So, keep the faith, keep pushing the boundaries and stay focussed, because if you are patient and humble enough, they [your dreams] will come true, eventually.