CITB, has released a research report on offsite construction that details how the adoption of off-site is changing the skills and training landscape for construction.

The report details the drivers and barriers of growth and what the future demand for offsite is compared to industry expectations. It identifies the different job functions required for successful implementation of offsite and highlights gaps in training provisions.

The report states that offsite construction currently accounts for less than 10% of total construction output. Clients that utilise offsite construction were surveyed as part of the research and say on average, offsite construction accounts for just over a quarter of all the work they commission. Nearly half of them expect this to increase over the next five years, with nearly a fifth saying this will increase significantly.

The research identified six key job functions required by the sector to capitalise on opportunities and also identify a number of issues in training and qualifications.

The report recommends a number of training initiatives including industry led qualification units and consideration for an offsite CSCS card to create an industry wide benchmark for offsite construction. CITB suggest that using grant funding to support company training schemes, fund industry assessors and tutors and develop specialist training hubs would be beneficial to the industry.

Simon Underwood, Managing Director at Elements Europe commented “CITB’s report is a thought-provoking read that highlights excellent points in leveraging the skills and resource in the industry”.

The full report can be read here https://www.citb.co.uk/documents/research/offsite_construction/offsite_construction_full_report_20170410.pdf