Secure post-Brexit access to a skilled workforce or risk a construction crisis, professional bodies warn Government Brexit Minister, David Davis has been warned that the UK’s construction skills crisis could severely worsen, if the Government does not take steps to ensure access to a skilled workforce during its post-referendum negotiations. The warning comes from a coalition of professional bodies representing the construction and built environment sectors. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) have written to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, outlining their concerns around skills, as well as five other priorities that the UK Government should focus on in light of the UK’s Brexit vote. The six priorities are: 1. ACCESS TO SKILLS The greatest strength of our sector is the skill of our workforce. The free movement of labour within the EU has been vital to the growth and flexibility)of the construction sector. Access to a skilled workforce of the highest quality and a focus on developing the next generation of home-grown talent are critical to ensure we can build the homes businesses and infrastructure we need to compete globally. We therefore urge the Government to explore options and approaches to ensure that this access is not impeded to the detriment of the built environment. 2. COMMON STANDARDS We believe that the UK has much to gain from pursuing an approach that makes it easier to do business with trading partners new and old. Access to markets in the EU and around the world has transformed the UK construction sector. The mutual recognition of qualifications and the development of common technical standards have reduced the barriers our members face working abroad. Reducing tariffs and harmonising standards have helped UK firms of all sizes expand to Europe and beyond. These common approaches have also meant that UK businesses can support best-practice in environmental and product standards, supporting efforts on global issues such as climate change. It is imperative that governments in the UK protect and promote the UK’s role as a leader in environmental and consumer protection standards. 3. RESEARCH EXCELLENCE Our members have benefitted from the collaborative research that the EU has enabled and promoted. Our future success depends on maintaining these relationships, while forging new ties with research organisations around the world. In addition the continued success of our world class university courses training our young people in the built environment is essential to the underpinning of research and the continued supply of labour for construction and allied activities. 4. INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT The UK’s global competitiveness will be hampered unless we do more to tackle the major infrastructure challenges we face. With a housing crisis, and growing concerns around energy, telecoms, road, rail and airport capacity, the Governments in the UK must seek and entice prospective investors to consider infrastructure of all kinds. Providing confidence to the construction industry through infrastructure funding and development will provide stability during a period of uncertainty and ensure that the UK is well-placed to take advantage of growth opportunities in the future. 5. DEVOLUTION COMMITMENT The referendum has brought divide between the different parts of the UK into sharp focus. Our organisations welcome the recent commitment to continuing the Northern Powerhouse and we believe that further devolution from Whitehall should be a key priority for the UK government as powers move from the European Commission. Devolution will enable a rebalancing of the economy so that all parts of the UK can benefit from any new opportunities arising from the UK’s new relationship with the European Union, and is an effective way of ensuring infrastructure spending is efficient, timely, coordinated and accountable. 6. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Through the extensive skills and experience of our members we are best-placed to advise on how the built environment can unlock new opportunities and combat existing challenges, as well as provide places for people to live, work and play. Leaving the EU could present a great opportunity for the UK, but it should not be associated with a drive to the bottom in the environmental and building standards which future generations will live with. RICS President, Amanda Clack FRICS, said: “Recent RICS figures have shown that we are in the grip of our worst construction skills crisis in almost 20 years. There is a real concern within our industry that if access to a skilled workforce is further restricted, Britain could stop building. My colleagues and I would urge Government to keep this at the front of their minds when they come to negotiate our withdrawal from the EU.  “We know that infrastructure and construction investment is key to Britain’s economic growth. The uncertainty that immediately followed the referendum outcome led to decline in economic growth, increased market volatility and a reduction in UK infrastructure investment.  While the initial post-Brexit slump appears to have stabilised, it is important that the Government focuses on maintaining infrastructure and construction investment leading up to and after Brexit, ensuring the right conditions are in place to attract infrastructure investors in all sectors across the UK.  “As we approach an unprecedented period of uncertainty, it is fundamental the government prioritises infrastructure and it remains at the forefront of maintaining a strong economy.” RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “UK architecture, surveying, town planning and construction are flexible and innovative professions. I’m confident our members can help deliver strong economic growth in the UK, providing the buildings and infrastructure that meet the needs of our communities.  “With the right actions taken from the Government to address our industries joint priorities, we can tackle the challenges and exploit the opportunities that Brexit will bring. But unless we fix the housing crisis and address the economic imbalances in our economy, the UK won’t be in a position to compete internationally.” Stephen Wilkinson, Vice President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, said: “The UK is a world leader in environmental and building

9 May 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal The new president of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), John Field has urged engineers to raise the profile of the “vital work the industry does by making buildings perform better”.   Addressing CIBSE members at the Royal Society in London in his inaugural address, Field said it would be a priority for his term as president to pursue this issue and said the work of engineers “affects the lives and health of billions of people every day, and who provide enormous benefits to the general public behind closed doors”.   But he also noted that, despite a central role in modern life and considerable achievements to date, the industry still isn’t as well known and respected as its work deserves.   To correct this, Field promised a year of “inspiration and empowerment” that would spread the work of engineers, and encourage young people and other professions to join the work that building services engineers do.   Field said: “What we as engineers need to do is to raise our profile, show off our achievements to politicians, other professions and the media, and make it clear that what we do is of vital importance to the world. I myself was a nuclear engineer before I was inspired to work in building services by the great work being done in the industry – we need to capture that spark of enthusiasm and get others to feel it too – students, other professions, and the public at large.”       Source link

©Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during their meeting in Athens Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, used a visit to Nato country Greece to warn its fellow members Romania and Poland that they could find themselves “in the crosshairs” over the siting of elements of a US missile programme. In his strongest reaction to date on a missile programme the US maintains is protection against Iran, Mr Putin said Washington and its allies had ignored warnings of potential countersteps against a weapons system in eastern Europe that Moscow sees as a threat to itself. More On this topic IN Europe “If yesterday in those areas of Romania people simply did not know what it means to be in the crosshairs, then today we will be forced to carry out certain measures to ensure our security,” Mr Putin told a news conference in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “It will be the same case with Poland,” he said, though did not specify what actions Russia would take. Mr Putin was in Greece to hold talks on energy and transport investments ahead of a celebratory visit to a 1,000-year-old Russian Orthodox monastery on the isolated peninsula of Mount Athos. Greece’s leftwing Syriza government is keen to build stronger ties with Moscow, despite being snubbed last year when Mr Tsipras, then a newly elected prime minister, flew to Moscow seeking an emergency loan to stave off making further concessions to the EU and International Monetary Fund. “For us, strengthening this relationship is a strategic choice for Greece,” said Mr Tsipras, who got his start in politics in the pro-Moscow Greek communist youth movement, after talks with the Russian president. Mr Putin, making his first visit this year to an EU member state, sounded a somewhat gloomy note as he paid a call on Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos, saying: “These are difficult times for everyone from the point of view of the economy and international security.” Almost 10 years have passed since Mr Putin last visited Athens on a mission to include Greece in the ill-fated South Stream project to pipe Russian natural gas across the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through the Balkans to central Europe. Under Mr Tsipras, pipeline politics have once again become a priority in bilateral relations. Greece is committed to joining a new Russian project known as South Stream II, even though it is already backing the TransAdriatic Pipeline, a rival project to reduce European dependence on Russian gas supplies. TAP, which started construction this month, will bring gas from Azerbaijan through Turkey, Greece and Albania to Italy. In February Greece’s state gas utility Depa and Italy’s Edison signed a memorandum of understanding with Gazprom to develop the South Stream II to carry Russian gas from Bulgaria across northern Greece and the Ionian Sea to southern Italy. Greek and Russian officials were holding talks on a new cross-border pipeline to link the Bulgarian and Greek gas networks, a long-stalled project planned by Depa, Edison and Bulgarian Energy Holding, the country’s state energy group. Mr Putin wrote in an article published this week in the Greek newspaper Kathimerini that “Russia could help streamline Greek transport infrastructure”. “We are referring to the participation of Russian business entities in the forthcoming Greek tenders for the purchase of assets of railway companies and the Thessaloniki port facilities.” Russia’s state railways group RZD has officially expressed interest in buying the Greek railways operator TrainOSE and the rolling stock company Rosco which are due to be privatised this year. Russia’s transport minister Maksim Sokolov has recently revived a proposal for a package deal that would also include the acquisition by RZD of a majority stake in Thessaloniki port in northern Greece. Mr Putin was flying to Thessaloniki on Saturday to join Patriarch Kyrill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church and an ally of the president, who casts himself as a believer. He was due to attend ceremonies officiated by Kyrill marking the 1,000th anniversary of the Agios Panteleimon monastery on Mount Athos, which is home to a large community of Russian monks. The Russian president’s visit to Mount Athos marks the high point in a year of Greek-Russian religious and cultural events being held to celebrate the monastery’s anniversary. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link