Construction
Overview
Touching practically every aspect of our daily lives, the construction industry is concerned with the building, maintenance and repair of our community infrastructure (schools and hospitals), of our workplaces and our homes. It is a huge and fast moving industry, employing 7% of the UK’s total workforce equating to more than 2 million jobs.
Continuous development in methods, techniques & technology and rapid change of legislation make it a varied, challenging and intellectual stimulating industry. The opportunity for contributing to the safety, efficiency and sustainability of the environment and the developing world also makes for a satisfying and reward career path.
Geography
Until recently there was a heavy concentration of work in this sector located in the North of England and this has begun to move south with increased focus on major projects such as the 2012 Olympics and regeneration of the Thames Gateway.
Major investment of public funds is also driving employment activity in Northern Ireland which, along with South East England, is expected to grow at a rate of more than 10%.
Employment
With some major development projects in the works, this sector has strong employment prospects, anticipating a need for 87,600 new recruits each year for at least the next 3 years.
This is a highly qualified industry with most jobs requiring post-grad qualifications and industry accreditation and the most sought after graduate skill sets will be architects, business process managers, construction managers and technical engineering staff. These jobs can be sourced via specialist recruitment agencies or by speculative submission of your CV.
There is currently a severe shortage of skilled workers in building services engineering, transportation and highways engineering, ground engineering and contaminated lane specialists and people with these skills are more likely to gain employer sponsorship and have work permits approved.
Salaries
The average starting salary is around £22,000 ($45-50k) with higher salaries offered by international companies and lower for local authorities and national contractors.
More information about finding work in the construction industry:
Construction - Links and Resources
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