7.21 Training is not only a matter of procedures. There is a deeper issue. One of the main problems facing the industry is how to attract a high calibre of young person into construction firms. (There seems to be no problem in recruiting high quality architectural students. Most courses are over subscribed.) The Principal of Glasgow College of Building and Printing commented "with regard to the recruitment of able young persons it is essential that the image of the industry is improved, with particular emphasis placed on schools and parents". (Letter from Principal Thomas Wilson, February 1994.) This is not a difficulty which is restricted to Britain. The EC/WS Atkins report on the EU construction industry found that "construction work is often seen as an unattractive option. It is perceived as dirty, dangerous, exposed to bad weather, unhealthy, insecure, underpaid, of low status and with poor career prospects for educated people."
7.22 The CITB has tried to tackle this problem through its network of over 70 Curriculum Centres. These seek to bring together schools and Colleges of Further Education with the local construction industry. This pre-vocational initiative needs fuller support from employers. If the industry is to be become more attractive to young people (and their families and teachers) it needs better physical conditions on site and improved career prospects.
7.23 The industry should also take direct action to portray itself more favourably, a topic which was of concern to the authors of the "Towards 2001" report60 . Some action could be quite inexpensive, such as mobile road shows to schools, colleges, agricultural shows, careers conventions, and perhaps some sporting events, which could contain videos and photographic examples of fine completed projects to raise the public profile of the industry. A "visit to sites" initiative - as was undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) some years ago - could also do much to show the public how the industry really works. If the industry does not display pride in its own considerable achievements it can hardly expect others to enthuse for it. The nature of the industry's business is such that it rarely advertises direct to the public, other than specialist sectors such as private house builders, "Do it Yourself' stores or merchants, or tradespeople seeking domestic work from households through outlets such as Yellow Pages or local newspapers.
7.24 Women are seriously under represented in the industry. There is no obvious reason why this should be so at a professional consultant level, while the traditional excuses offered in respect of site operatives are becoming less relevant as the building process becomes more mechanised, there is more off-site prefabrication and plant replaces labour. In its final report, the CIC states "a major obstacle to the industry's ability to recruit the best people is the fact that half of the population is largely ignored by the industry. At professional level, there are exceptions to this, but as a recent CIC survey showed few of the professional institutions have one woman member for every ten men." CIC conducted a survey of the number of women professionals amongst the membership of 14 of the professional institutions in the construction industry. It showed that in 1992/1993, there were 12,406 women out of a total collective membership of239,700 across the 14 disciplines, equal to 5.2% of the total.
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60 "Building Towards 2001" report in 1991 by the National Contractors Group of the Building Employers Confederation and the Centre for Strategic Studies in Construction, Reading University.