Environment Analyst’s Brownfield and Regeneration Network welcomed a group of brownfield contractors, consultants and key stakeholders for a roundtable discussion entitled: Tackling the skills shortage: what does the next generation brownfield professional look like?
Here we present the outcomes and notes from that discussion held on 18 January. This summary provides a series of recommendations for brownfield practitioners and business leaders to adopt.
Members can read the report here.
Key themes
- Should firms focus on recruiting or retaining staff?
- Should firms focus on trained professionals or training junior staff?
- How are firms dealing with salary inflation?
- Where is the next generation coming from?
- How to engage new workers early enough in their educational cycles
- How can regulators or local authorities retain workers?
Key Recommendations
- Provide on the job training interwoven with higher education
- Support future workers both financially, and through providing access to proper training and educational opportunities
- Start the engagement process early enough - before GCSEs
- Invest in early careers programmes instead of recruitment consultants
- Provide real achievable career growth opportunities within the company
- Consciously bid on tenders that provide opportunities to utilise to junior workforce
- Engage the volunteer communities to develop themed activities and events
Event write-up library
Brownfield & Regeneration Network members can access all of the event reports from our webinars, panel discussions and roundtables here. These write-ups provide insights from peers and industry experts on how to overcome key challenges