Do we need to say goodbye to the portacabin in the field

With every leader I talk to, there is one key issue on their mind. How do we get more people to consider a career in the earthworks sector? It's an issue that has been around for years, but as we see projects like HS2 ramping up this year and more people retiring, one thing is certain, we need to ditch the portacabin and create better learning environments. 

Fortunately for people living in Gloucester and South Wales, what used to be a field has become a brand new £3m state-of-the-art facility designed for and built by the construction industry. It's called AccXel, and it's just opened its doors after a great deal of hard work by a team led by its Founder and Managing Director, Nicola Bird. 

Speaking to her following its launch, I wanted to know why she had fought so hard to raise the money and create the partnerships needed to open the new centre. 

Nicola: "In my other role as the Safety and Business Development Director at our family-run business, K W Bell Group, we became very concerned about how difficult it was getting to attract new people into our business. Our supply chain partners were also telling us they had similar issues. As a business, we wanted to find out how we could practically bring more people into the industry and set up two satellite facilities to train 23 groundwork apprentices in our bespoke apprenticeship programme. 

"It was a great learning experience that helped us understand how to attract people and give them a pathway to a career in our sector. But one thing that we also recognised was a portacabin in a muddy field was never going to attract people in the first place.  

It was time for change, and in October 2020, we were awarded £1.96m by HM Government and GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership via the 'Getting Building Fund' to build and create AccXel. KW Bell group added a further £1m of investment, and the UK's first co-funded Construction Skills Accelerator Centre was born.  

We called it AccXel and started building a centre, creating industry partnerships, hiring a great team and officially opened at the start of the year. For our plant training offering, we have partnered with both JCB and Leica Geosystems to ensure our apprentices and learners have the latest equipment and technology available to use. We will also be using technology to help upskill individuals who are already in the industry. 

The key to our success is creating a centre that is fit for purpose and a great learning environment. We have designed AccXel to be totally inclusive of learners from all backgrounds and employers who can use the centre themselves for training or customer events. That way, we can bring the construction sector closer together and support employment opportunities for learners and fill the gaps we know exist for employers. 

AccXel is an aspirational learning environment, with apprenticeship courses not just for plant operators but also groundworkers and bricklayers. 

If you spend all your time looking at delivering great buildings and structures and neglect to take the same approach to provide great learning environments, you will never attract the right people for the future.  

And as someone who has grown up in this sector, I want to see us take a much bolder step towards building a better training and support infrastructure that is fit for purpose now and tomorrow. Imagine if you were starting your career and looking at the options of a role in manufacturing or construction. If you were faced with a nice college manufacturing course or a portacabin in a field, what choice would you make?" 

Peter Haddock: "it's clear that now is the time for increased investment in fit for purpose facilities and more industry partnerships. There are colleges now doing this. But being bold enough to create new dedicated facilities has to be a much bigger part of the mix if we are to solve the skills shortage and build a lasting legacy for the future."