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Skills focus is vital to the future of engineering

The chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) North East is calling for employers and educators to put a major focus on the skills required in the engineering industry.

Greg Lutton believes there is not only a wide-ranging skills shortage now, but there needs to be a considerable focus on the types of skills which will be required in the next 30 to 40 years.

He said: “We are facing a new economic landscape with more big infrastructure work and less smaller, developer-led projects finding their way onto order books. Areas such as new-build in the nuclear market are expected to open up and I suspect we will face a shortage in nuclear engineers, as well as specialists in other areas.

“I use the word ‘suspect’ because it is clear that figures for skills needed, particularly in the North East, are not adequately recorded in the region. Again, it is a lack of foresight regarding what is to come which is partly to blame for this.

“We need to gather this information correctly and then look at how we can train our graduates and students in schools and colleges to best meet these needs. Without this focus, our industry faces serious problems and hardship in the future.”

Mr Lutton took his voluntary office with the ICE in October and has been considering various issues surrounding skills and other areas of civil engineering.

He said: “An issue worthy of further discussion is whether civil engineers need to be more entrepreneurial and whether we should be training our workforce to deal with risk on a more regular basis. We need to drive our industry forward in a more diverse way, while also focusing on those needs which will challenge civil engineering in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .