Builder Bovis Lend Lease launches training company to address construction skills sector shortages

Bovis Lend Lease UK has launched a new company Be Onsite to address the skills shortage in the construction industry.

The not-for-profit company – in partnership with Jobcentre Plus, ConstructionSkills, the London Development Agency and the Learning and Skills Council – has been created to offer on-site industry-specific training and employment. 

ConstructionSkills estimates that more than 85,000 new entrants are needed in the UK construction industry annually and many of these entrants will need new skills in light of new building techniques and development.

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The new company will aim to work with the supply chain to map the exact skills needed and then identify how these skills will be provided through specialist accredited training providers. In particular, Be Onsite will serve the skills gaps where no specific training currently exists.

Val Lowman, head of community development at Bovis Lend Lease, has been appointed managing director of Be Onsite. She said: “Small firms with fewer than 14 workers represent 94% of the construction industry and employ 39% of all workers. These firms need all the help they can get. We aim for Be Onsite to eventually grow so that it can offer trainees to the construction industry across the country.”