Building People: How to join the dots between diversity, skills and social impact

Let’s keep it simple.

Does the UK need to design, plan, build, maintain (etc.) buildings and infrastructure?

Yes.

Do we have enough competent and experienced workers to make this happen? No.

Of the workers we have, are they representative of UK society? No.

Do we have a problem with a lack of diversity in the built environment workforce? Yes.

Read on if you’d like to change this.

In fact, don’t just read on, but join in. Join in with a social enterprise that is leading a movement for collaborative change. Join in with Building People and a network of over 80 organisations that have come together to make it easier for people from diverse backgrounds to find the many amazing careers opportunities available, and for employers to widen their talent pools.

How?

1. Share your opportunities, from work experience to jobs, events, knowledge and resources via the Building People ‘aggregating and connecting’ hub.

2. Work with us to connect your opportunities to our network of 50+ organisations that provide built environment careers support to diverse groups. This network is composed of organisations/initiatives that focus on underrepresented audiences such as:

• Women

• Black Asian and Minority Ethnic people

• Ex-military personnel

• Young people

• Refugees

• Ex-offenders

• LGBTQ+ people

• People with disabilities

3. Become a Supporter and play an active role in ensuring both the sustainability of Building People and that it delivers a service to meet your needs. Our collaborative and inclusive approach, with a commitment to not duplicating effort and to working with all to increase diversity and deliver joined-up social impact, means there’s space for everyone to join in.

In a bit more detail…

Building People is a social enterprise that is creating connections across the built environment to address the industry challenges of skills, diversity and social impact. Our free-to-use network and platform aggregates and integrates with sector-wide activity, enabling people to easily find knowledge, vacancies, events and careers opportunities, and employers to engage with a more diverse range of talent.

We are increasing diversity across the built environment by enabling collaboration and by improving connections between diverse supply and employer demand.

Our aim is to simplify user journeys (making it easier to find what already exists by bringing opportunities together in one place), thus helping to bring about equality of opportunity across a fragmented careers landscape. Our aggregating and connecting platform brings together careers opportunities in one place:

• Search Organisations – a searchable database of 350+ organisations/initiatives that provide built environment careers support to diverse and under-represented individuals.

• Activities & Events – listings of relevant activities aimed at diverse audiences.

• Work Opportunities – aggregated vacancies from work experience and placements to jobs.

• Resources – a multitude of careers content aimed at enabling a diverse workforce.

Wouldn’t it all be much easier if people interested in built environment careers could easily find the many vacancies, events, knowledge and resources that exist? Would career pathways not be simpler if there were a ‘one stop shop’ that aggregated such opportunities? And then connected these opportunities to the many organisations and initiatives that engage with diverse and under-represented groups? Simplifying the connections between diverse supply and employer demand…

Of course it would.

To join in with Building People and our movement for collaborative change (to increase diversity across the built environment together), please contact us: hello@buildingpeople.org.uk

For more information, please visit our website: https://www.buildingpeople.org.uk/