Can the UK bridge its net-zero infrastructure skills chasm?

The UK’s ambi­tious net-zero goals loom large over the infra­struc­ture sec­tor, affect­ing every­thing from design to deliv­ery. They’ve also cre­at­ed a work­force skills cri­sis. 

That’s because mod­ern infra­struc­ture projects based on net-zero goals are very dif­fer­ent to those of the past. They demand a dif­fer­ent set of com­pe­ten­cies, rang­ing from a basic knowl­edge of data ana­lyt­ics and com­put­er pro­gram­ming through to advanced tech­nol­o­gy skills, such as AI and 3D mod­el­ling to design, build and main­tain sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture. 

Appren­tice­ships and fur­ther edu­ca­tion tech­ni­cal train­ing routes are bring­ing some new tal­ent into the engi­neer­ing sec­tor, but employ­ers are also hav­ing to redou­ble their efforts to upskill their exist­ing tal­ent and to reskill work­ers brought in from oth­er sec­tors – at scale, and quick­ly. 

For instance, the Engi­neer­ing Con­struc­tion Indus­try Train­ing Board (ECITB) – which fore­casts a need for an addi­tion­al 25,000 work­ers for major projects by 2026 – is call­ing for more gov­ern­ment sup­port to enable the reskilling of oil and gas work­ers for jobs in oth­er, relat­ed sec­tors. After all, that work­force should be cut loose by the tran­si­tion away from fos­sil fuels.

Answering the transferability question

Upskilling and reskilling are key to achiev­ing a just ener­gy tran­si­tion, ide­al­ly one that deliv­ers qual­i­ty jobs and career pro­gres­sion for those in the ener­gy sec­tor. BP, for exam­ple, is focused on pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for its work­force to apply their skills to new chal­lenges in low-car­bon tech­nolo­gies.

“We see high lev­els of skills trans­fer­abil­i­ty into low­er-car­bon tech,” says Ker­ry Dry­burgh, BP’s exec­u­tive vice-pres­i­dent, peo­ple and cul­ture. “In a skills-con­strained envi­ron­ment, more col­lec­tive efforts are need­ed to help peo­ple move across sec­tors. This could mean more access to tech­ni­cal and voca­tion­al train­ing, more flex­i­bil­i­ty in how that is fund­ed, and more mod­u­lar approach­es to devel­op­ment, includ­ing top-up train­ing, to help peo­ple bridge skills gaps.” 

To realise this goal, BP is now giv­ing its employ­ees access to a per­son­alised learn­ing por­tal and com­pa­ny-wide ’growth weeks’ focused on learn­ing, along­side a range of oth­er pro­grammes designed to help tech­ni­cal staff acquire new skills for the future. 

The busi­ness already has many exam­ples of engi­neers and oth­er spe­cial­ists apply­ing their skills to low-car­bon projects to help the tran­si­tion away from oil and gas. It recent­ly ran recruit­ment cam­paigns for some of its fastest-grow­ing clean ener­gy seg­ments, includ­ing off­shore wind, elec­tric vehi­cle charg­ing and hydro­gen. Appli­ca­tions from oth­er parts of the busi­ness were high­ly com­pet­i­tive, with inter­nal can­di­dates secur­ing 50% of roles in areas such as hydro­gen.

“Get­ting this right not only helps cre­ate green jobs in the UK but also helps lev­el up the coun­try,” says Dry­burgh. “It can ensure that those in social mobil­i­ty ‘cold-spots’ can access oppor­tu­ni­ties in the sec­tor, includ­ing in places like Teesside, where we oper­ate.”

How to keep older workers on track

And it’s not just about ener­gy. Major trans­porta­tion projects such as Cross­rail, HS2 and the Stone­henge Tun­nel are also set to rely on a sim­i­lar tran­si­tion of engi­neer­ing skills. 

For exam­ple, the rail indus­try has an age­ing work­force, with more than 28% of the cur­rent work­force over 50 years old, accord­ing to research from City & Guilds and the Nation­al Skills Acad­e­my for Rail. This means the focus has so far been on secur­ing the tal­ent pipeline, with appren­tice­ships form­ing an essen­tial route for young peo­ple to start a career in the sec­tor. 

How­ev­er, work is also ongo­ing to help exist­ing work­ers embrace digi­ti­sa­tion as a path to safer, more effi­cient and more sus­tain­able work­ing. Spe­cial­ist engi­neer­ing and tech­ni­cal recruit­ment firm Mor­son Group sup­ports clients with this skills chal­lenge through its train­ing deliv­ery arm, which has been heav­i­ly involved in HS2 and oth­er major rail projects, often upskilling con­trac­tors in the use of tech­nolo­gies that didn’t exist when they began their careers. 

“HS2 is a game-chang­er because of the mas­sive invest­ment in tech, which is advanc­ing at such a pace that how it will look over the life­cy­cle of the project is unknown,” says group train­ing direc­tor Matthew Leav­is. “We need to incen­tivise peo­ple to adopt new ways of work­ing and become cham­pi­ons of tech.” 

Through its Pathfind­er Acad­e­my, the com­pa­ny works with employ­ers to retrain exist­ing employ­ees, those who have left the sec­tor or retired, and peo­ple from more diverse tal­ent pools, through dig­i­tal engi­neer­ing boot camps. By the end of April, the Mor­son train­ing divi­sion will have trained 175 new entrants and upskilled 50 exist­ing work­ers in the north west, with plans to roll out this mod­el nation­al­ly. 

Mor­son also runs ‘train the train­er’ boot camps, upskilling those in train­ing roles to help them over­come resis­tance to digi­ti­sa­tion and to use tech such as VR and dig­i­tal twins as part of the train­ing method­ol­o­gy.

This upskilling com­po­nent is like­ly to be par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant, as it should help free up entry-lev­el roles for peo­ple com­ing into the sec­tor. What’s more, ongo­ing train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties should make trans­port more appeal­ing for peo­ple at all stages of their careers. 

“Part of that is about train­ing,” Leav­is adds, “but it also relies on employ­ee val­ue propo­si­tions that high­light the pos­i­tive impact the indus­try will have on green­er and more effi­cient jour­neys, for exam­ple, along with the oppor­tu­ni­ties for a sus­tain­able career with pro­gres­sion in terms of skills and salary.”

How to break down resistance to change

Among the biggest bar­ri­ers to upskilling are a lack of time, fund­ing and strat­e­gy. Employ­ees could also resist change, often prompt­ed by con­cerns over a return to train­ing after what may have been a con­sid­er­able num­ber of years for some indi­vid­u­als. 

All of these fac­tors can derail upskilling ini­tia­tives, says Racon­teur colum­nist Bernard Marr, a strate­gic advis­er to busi­ness and gov­ern­ment and author of Future Skills: The 20 skills and com­pe­ten­cies every­one needs to suc­ceed in a dig­i­tal world.

“Over­com­ing these chal­lenges requires a mind­set shift to pri­ori­tise learn­ing,” he says. “Best prac­tices for organ­i­sa­tions include pro­vid­ing flex­i­ble learn­ing options, offer­ing incen­tives and align­ing upskilling with career advance­ment to encour­age employ­ees to take own­er­ship of their devel­op­ment.”

Over at the Nation­al Grid, for exam­ple, the upskilling and reskilling strat­e­gy is a vital part of the organisation’s role in the UK’s tran­si­tion to clean ener­gy sources. Resis­tance to change among staff has not been a sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenge, says Lee Wal­lace, direc­tor of safe­ty, health and envi­ron­ment train­ing and engi­neer­ing pol­i­cy, because the organ­i­sa­tion has focused on encour­ag­ing staff to see change as an oppor­tu­ni­ty. To help this process, it has pro­vid­ed train­ing pro­grammes tai­lored to the skills gaps of work­ers who have been out of edu­ca­tion for an extend­ed peri­od. 

The organ­i­sa­tion also makes clear the dis­tinc­tion between ‘new’ skills and the upskilling and reskilling of cur­rent employ­ees. “We are clear on that dif­fer­ence and ensure that our new train­ing and refresh pro­grammes address and include tech­nol­o­gy changes,” Wal­lace explains. “Sep­a­rate­ly, we under­take assur­ance and com­pe­ten­cy checks, includ­ing any refresh­er train­ing of staff in exist­ing roles.”

Why soft skills matter

Cru­cial­ly, it’s not just tech­ni­cal skills that mat­ter. “Indi­vid­u­als with strengths in com­mu­ni­ca­tion, team­work and emo­tion­al intel­li­gence can take advan­tage of dif­fer­ent career oppor­tu­ni­ties, such as work­ing with clients,” says Marr. “And those who can adapt to new tech­nolo­gies and process­es quick­ly, and be cre­ative in their prob­lem-solv­ing, will be more pre­pared to match the chang­ing demands of the indus­try. 

“There­fore, organ­i­sa­tions that invest in upskilling and reskilling pro­grammes that address both tech­ni­cal and soft skills will be bet­ter posi­tioned to suc­ceed in the high-tech engi­neer­ing land­scape.”

The UK’s ambitious net-zero goals loom large over the infrastructure sector, affecting everything from design to delivery. They’ve also created a workforce skills crisis. 

That’s because modern infrastructure projects based on net-zero goals are very different to those of the past. They demand a different set of competencies, ranging from a basic knowledge of data analytics and computer programming through to advanced technology skills, such as AI and 3D modelling to design, build and maintain sustainable infrastructure. 

Apprenticeships and further education technical training routes are bringing some new talent into the engineering sector, but employers are also having to redouble their efforts to upskill their existing talent and to reskill workers brought in from other sectors – at scale, and quickly.