Supply and confidence – transforming the UK’s skills landscape
ISG’s Zoe Price and David Price from Rolls-Royce SMR speak with CIOB People
ISG’s Global COO Zoe Price and COO for Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) David White recently spoke with CIOB People’s editor Nadine Buddoo about unleashing the potential of UK talent. This wide-ranging conversation explored findings from ISG’s recently published white paper on skills, as well as perspectives from an organisation at the vanguard of the UK’s net zero energy transformation strategy.
In highlighting the purpose of ISG’s report, Zoe said: “The focus was on how we could support government with the first step (of a national skills master planning strategy) by using planning data for projects and mapping those out. Then it is about how we bring all of these different stakeholders together so that they are more aligned in terms of the skills challenge.”
David has first-hand experience of how skills constraints are impacting major infrastructure projects. “We have had a piecemeal approach to infrastructure, which means you end up having to deliver everything without a central overarching plan. Continuity and certainty are so important in order to build a pipeline of skills..”
For Zoe it’s about “…..providing the confidence for people to make bold career choices, but they will only do that if there’s some certainty and visibility of what is in the infrastructure pipeline,” while David noted that “All of this requires significant thinking and meaningful change. We have lots of different stakeholders, but we need to look at how those key influencers can work more collectively to achieve those overarching goals.”
In a final rallying call to everyone that works in the built environment, Zoe stressed “We need to change some of the wider conversations about construction and how people think about industry. We need to promote all of the amazing things the industry is doing and illustrate that to the public so they understand the roles they can play. We have a fantastic opportunity to streamline and reset the boundaries of what the future looks like.”
To read the full article on the CIOB People website click here
"We need to change some of the wider conversations about construction and how people think about industry. We need to promote all of the amazing things the industry is doing and illustrate that to the public so they understand the roles they can play. We have a fantastic opportunity to streamline and reset the boundaries of what the future looks like."
Zoe Price, Chief Operating Officer, ISG
