54 DEBATE


Stuart Bullough


We are an SME and our needs and demands are quite different to Persimmon and the greater industry. It’s a smaller culture and we are not building as many homes as everybody else.


We are operating in the same pool for talent but have a slight advantage in some cases. We’ve not got the pulling power of the big companies, so we try and create a different culture in terms of flexibility and what we can offer our employees.


We’ve built up a really good rapport with a sub-contract base now and our supply chain but it’s a lot easier to do that when you’re only building 120 houses a year as opposed to 7,000.


We are up against all kinds of industries and we are losing huge talent. The younger generation certainly want more than I did when I started in the industry.


A massive percentage of houses are still built the way we’ve done it for hundreds of years. We’re trying to entice people into the industry through innovation and Modern Methods of Construction (MCC).


It’s also getting out there with the right career advice at the right time, showing just how rewarding the career is, the pride that you get, the financial rewards you can get from the industry, the career opportunities that you can get from it.


Philip Helm


We’re chasing a tight, small pool of good subcontractors, looking to engage with them to get them onto our projects and to stay on them whilst they are getting pulled all over the place.


We’ve certainly got sub- contractor supply chain issues right across the North West when it


comes to the classic trades. We clearly have an image problem as an industry.


As a business, we will go somewhere and work on a project for months and then come away and go somewhere else. We’re almost like a travelling circus.


If we’re going into Wigan for ten months and then coming away and then not going back there for maybe three years, we have an issue with grabbing and keeping hold of apprentices.


We principally recruit joinery apprentices. We’ve got a joinery workshop so we can train them there and take them out on site.


We’re working on a Passivhaus project in Lancaster and the interest is phenomenal, from Lancaster & Morecambe College in particular. We’ve got engineers coming to the site for placement, tutors coming for refresher courses.


Tom Hargreaves Lynn Johnson


I’ve been working for Persimmon Homes for more than 30 years in sales. I’ve now gone onto a site manager apprenticeship role.


I’ve been on site now for three months and I feel like I have made a difference, especially with customers.


I’m really enjoying it. There’s an awful lot to learn and obviously I’ll be learning for many years to come but I’m getting there.


As the months progress I’ll be seeing each stage of the build and learning. I saw the QS the other day, the engineers, our quality inspector, so I’m learning from a lot of people. It’s great and I’m loving it.


In the industry you are building houses but you’re also making homes and you’re making communities.


I’ve stayed so long because it’s the diversity of it. You’re on different developments, you could be there for two years, then you move to another.


It’s not the same job day in day out, there’s always something different happening which has kept the fire burning for me really. It’s been a really good career in sales and now hopefully in construction.


We’re certainly trying to catch young graduates early. Building surveyors often take a year out of university, so we are offering them the chance to do 12 months with us in the hope that they will want to come back and join us full-time once they graduate.


In the short-term we are looking at other regions. Leeds for instance. If we can find the right person over there, we can take a very small office for relatively small cost and instantly we can tap into another resource pool.


We are also speaking to colleges about apprenticeships. It is shouting about the fact construction isn’t all foundations and ground works and getting covered in mud, there’s lots of technology out there.


You don’t need to pick a route to construction where you are getting wet and cold out on a site.


You can be out there doing topographical surveys and using the latest kit. Promoting technology is a good way of getting people more interested in the industry.


Alban Cassidy


If we advertise for a new position, we get a small handful of applicants at best. There is a gap between graduates looking to get on board who don’t necessarily have all the life and office skills, and those at the far end who are highly experienced and want to be rewarded at the highest level. It’s those people in the middle where the shortage is and where we have a bit of an issue.


We are in a climate emergency and yet, at the same time, we still need new homes, we still need to build communities, we still need shops and offices.


It is explaining to people that they can get into an industry where there is an opportunity for innovation and a chance to guide the industry in a greener direction.


It is something that we should make a bit more of, to try and get more people interested and involved.


You can actually explain to people, ‘Here’s an opportunity to make a difference, make something better, to save it or to drive something new.’


Careers advice is the bit that’s lacking. There are some amazing opportunities out there, it’s far broader than people realise but people don’t know about it.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84