Industry leaders and young professionals met to discuss the industry skills gap at RICS HQ

Industry stakeholders and rising stars met at RICS HQ last week to discuss the skills gap and devise practical solutions to help close it.

Held in partnership with BE News, the ‘Skills Gap Spotlight + Hackathon’ welcomed around 100 senior leaders and almost 40 hackathon participants from the across the sector and the UK. Alongside a series of keynote and panel discussions, young professionals and students gathered as part of a hackathon challenge to come up with ideas to help close the skills gap.

The two-day event sparked conversations highlighting the need to make a career in the industry more attractive and visible to young people while also supporting, recognising and upskilling professionals in emerging areas of expertise, reducing barriers to entry and attracting diverse talent into the sector.

Acting President Nick Maclean began the event by calling for boldness, highlighting the need to embrace entrepreneurship and to be experimental with solutions.

Skills England call for greater industry collaboration

Although a new executive agency, Skills England has big ambitions to ensure that the UK can thrive. Sarah Maclean, Co-CEO of Skills England, set out the organisation’s future plans and highlighted the need for sector-wide mobilisation to address the skills gap.

Looking forward, Sarah highlighted the importance to Skills England of working with cross-sector initiatives and ensuring the skills and training in the built environment sector available match the skills that the UK economy needs.

Mark Farmer, Chair of the new employer-led Built Environment Futures Assembly (BEFA) emphasised that ‘professions can’t exist in silos’. He went on to speak about the  opportunities that arise from working together to encourage talent into the sector: increasing interest and visibility of the sector to wider society, influencing the government towards positive change and modernising industry practices.

Leaders from UK industry bodies shared views on a joined-up approach

RICS CEO Justin Young, RIBA President Chris Williamson, CIOB Director of Education and Standards Ros Thorpe, RTPI Immediate Past President Lindsey Richards and ICE Vice President Richard Bayfield took to the stage for a panel discussion: the case for a joint approach.

They delved into a range of issues but also the opportunities:

• Justin Young stressed that government, educators, employers and professional bodies all have a key role to play in driving and creating access to skills.
• Chris Williamson discussed his interest in revolutionising lifelong learning and attracting diversity into the profession.
• Ros Thorpe highlighted the rapidly changing nature of the world of work and suggested that the sector look at what can be learnt from other industries.
• Lindsey Richards described the unprecedented planning vacancies and the challenges of capacity and retention.
• Richard Bayfield talked about the ICE and RICS work on conflict avoidance across industry as a great example of collaboration for good.
   

Speakers united over the need to raise awareness of built environment careers

With an ageing workforce, how can we raise awareness of what we do to enable early and mid-career to join our industry?

This was a challenge that was raised in RICS’ recent Surveying skills report. Over 50% of respondents to the report said that an ageing workforce, combined with high retirement rates and a lack of new entrants into the profession are among the key drivers behind the skills shortage.

A solution highlighted by several speakers during the event was the need to improve the visibility of the sector to parents and students. In a challenging job market, more could be done to showcase the variety of opportunities that currently exist and will continue to develop in the sector in the years and decades to come.

Social media – with a particular emphasis on Tik Tok – was mentioned by both speakers and hackathon participants as a good way to increase awareness of the careers available in the sector. It was also highlighted for its facility to showcase the day-to-day experience of working in the built environment to young people and students. Hackathon participants discussed a rising trend in user-generated content and the benefit this can bring to the sector in engaging new audiences.

The event’s panel discussions and fireside chats also highlighted the need to raise awareness about the different types of jobs available in the built and natural environment to professionals working in other sectors. This is particularly important for those in their mid-careers that might be looking for opportunities in a new sector.  The event’s discussions also emphasised the need to work on retaining talent.

Mentorship and sponsorship were identified by the event participants as important means to develop professionals. In the RICS Surveying skills survey results, mentorship was highly rated in the results from the Americas and MEA as a way to attract younger generations to the profession.

Salary, job location, and inclusivity highlighted as essential drivers for entry

To create a more diverse and inclusive profession, speakers at the event discussed how to ensure the profession is a welcoming and supportive environment. Several of the event’s participants are part of the B. E. Inclusive Initiative, which seeks to drive diversity, equity and inclusion to ensure the sector reflects the diversity of the society it serves.

Location was raised by several speakers as a major barrier entry, with many firms in the built environment sector choosing to locate primarily or situate their headquarters in London. While locating offices  in the capital city provides benefits to firms, it can also limit opportunities for people who may not be able to afford to move or live in London. To ensure diverse talent can access employment in the built environment, the event’s speakers discussed how sector firms can provide opportunities to attract and support talented individuals from a diversity of backgrounds and locations.

Speakers at the event said the built environment sector can often lose talent to other industries like law, finance and tech. This reflects the findings of the RICS Surveying skills survey, where around half of respondents aged 17-34 considered low starting salaries compared to other STEM fields as a key driver behind skills shortages in their sector.

Apprenticeships, mentoring and training programmes among the next steps identified

No single organisation will be able to address the built environment skills gap and attract a pipeline of talent into the sector on its own. Greater collaboration among industry stakeholders to address areas of shared interests can more effectively encourage new and existing talent to seek a career in the built environment.

Many of the themes that arose during the two-day event reflect the conclusions of the RICS Surveying skills survey. This included the need to:

• ensure more focus is placed on apprenticeships
• better promote the opportunities that exist, from construction and surveying to engineering, planning and architecture
• improving mentoring opportunities and training programmes.
   

Early career professionals who participated in the event’s two-day Hackathon demonstrated that there is no shortage of talent. The winning idea is a platform that works as a broker, matching talent to employers in the built environment. The winning team will have workspace at RICS HQ to develop their idea with the support of RICS mentors.

To learn more about the skills shortage facing our industry, download the RICS Surveying skills report.