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As a family-run company with 45 years of successful trading under its belt, Hawkins Group is in a position to give something back. This year, thanks to financial support from the CITB, the company has been able to employ and develop six apprenticeships to help tackle the skills gap within the construction industry.

Are you Britain’s best bulldozer driver? A world-class wheel loader operator? The search is on for Operator of the Year, with £10,000 in prize money up for grabs in a dedicated all-day festival of construction.

2022 was a tough year. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was arguably the biggest conflict since World War Two. Meanwhile at home, rising inflation, interest rates, and a cost-of-living crisis took hold. The global and domestic upheaval impacted many industries including construction, one of the UK’s biggest growth drivers. This turbulence is reflected in our new Construction Skills Network (CSN) report.

Against a backdrop of economic challenge, rising materials and labour costs, new figures from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) reveal that almost 225,000 extra workers will be required to meet UK construction demand by 2027.

Sian Walkey, like many in construction, didn’t take her apprenticeship straight from school. The mum-of-two had already studied, built up a successful career and started a family – but she wanted to go further. She wanted to upskill and unleash her potential.

"Learning a new skill every day was one of the best feelings.” Those words are from trainee joiner Daniel Skelly. They are a very good example of how training for a new career can be enjoyable – and transform a life.

CITB has awarded contracts worth £10.5m, to four UK-wide training organisations which will provide 10,500 free ILM leadership and management courses across industry.

The winners of the SkillBuild National Finals 2022 have been announced, after nearly 80 construction trainees went head-to-head over three days. SkillBuild, often dubbed the ‘skills Olympics’, is delivered by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) in partnership with WorldSkills UK and offers a chance for trainees to compete in a bid to be crowned winner of their chosen trade.

CITB’s Chief Executive, Tim Balcon said: “Construction employers are facing rising energy bills and materials costs and they need confidence in the future pipeline of work and support to train through challenging market conditions. “We will do everything we can to support the construction industry so companies can continue to have the confidence to invest in skills."

Top construction trainees from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been named as competitors at the SkillBuild National Finals 2022. SkillBuild is delivered by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) in partnership with WorldSkills UK, often dubbed the ‘skills Olympics.’ Over 80 finalists made it through the qualifying rounds, which were held at various colleges across the UK earlier this year.