CWIC_Newsletter2_English

Canolfan Arloesi Adeiladwaith Cymru Construction Wales Innovation Centre

Future Proofing Construction Skills

CWIC Newsletter

Summer 2019 No. 2

the completion of the centre located at the University of Wales Trinity St David’s new building in Swansea’s Waterfront Innovation Quarter in SA1 but also the pan-Wales delivery that has taken place since the beginning by our partners.

Donna Griffiths CITB Partnerships Manager

W

elcome to the second edition of our newsletter. Since last autumn and the official opening of the Construction Wales Innovation Centre we have had a very productive and exciting period.

We were delighted to be able to acknowledge the achievements of not only

Some notable and innovative highlights include Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Surveying, 360 Excavator Operator courses including simulator training, CISRS Basic Scaffolding courses at Coleg Cambria, a very successful and popular plant and civils boot camp arranged by Coleg y Cymoedd, an Introduction to Construction for Year 9 students at Coleg Ceredigion which

provided them with a level 1 qualification to REVIT and a BIM collaboration at Coleg Sir Gar. The partnership between the CITB and the University began in 2016 with its unique hub and spoke structure delivering across the three regions of Wales and I was honoured to be invited to chair the CWIC steering group.

Up to the end of February this year CWIC had enabled more than 640 companies to benefit from specialist training and delivered more than 367 different courses and other activities. This equates to 1,070 days or a total of 8,560 hours of much needed training. >>

cwic.wales | 01792 481273 | cwic@uwtsd.ac.uk | @CWICWales

The training offered has been varied and benefited over 2,750 individuals, of which 58% are from technical and professional occupations. CWIC is instrumental in meeting employer needs and is focusing provision on areas that haven’t been delivered previously in Wales.

CWIC are well placed to respond to the current and future skills challenges across the country. The way in which it is developing new qualifications as well as the supportive role it’s taking with employers in delivering funded commissions is an important development.

Keen to be inclusive and to address the needs of the whole industry in Wales, CWIC has also started offering training via the wider network such as

CWIC Opening

at Pembrokeshire College, Coleg Llandrillo and Coleg Gwent to name a few.

Recognising that there has never been a better time for women to enter construction, on International Women’s Day 2019 (IWD), CITB hosted a unique, Wales-wide construction event to inspire the next generation of women to consider a career in construction.

Utilising the hub and spoke model CITB Wales sought to promote the industry across Wales using the additional publicity that would be in place surrounding both IWD and National Apprenticeship Week to attract a more diverse workforce.

The day was supported by local construction companies at each location who offered students a range of participative activities.

Together we successfully delivered a positive message to over 600 young girls, 27 schools and 30 employers including local Welsh SMEs, national contractors and architectural practices.

Speaking at the event Ruby Bhogal, Project Manager and finalist in the Great British Bake Off in 2018 was broadcast live to partner colleges across Wales.

Fabienne Viala, the Chair of Bouygues and Carole Ditty, Legal Director of Bouygues also gave video interviews, explaining to students why she had chosen construction as her career path and the opportunities available to them.

Ruby Bhogal – International Women Day’s talk

CONVERT: A £2M pan-GB Project on Immersive Learning for Construction using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality launched in February

Using simulators as a training method

CWIC is leading the project management for a pan-GB consortium that will provide construction training using state-of-the-art Immersive Technologies.

Technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have now matured so that there are clear economic and safety benefits to companies investing in training programmes. Virtual Reality can place employees in an immersive virtual world where realistic safety-critical scenarios can be explored and tested. In this way trainees can be work-ready in shorter lead times and more conversant with Health & Safety protocols and practice than conventional training approaches. Augmented Reality systems combine real-world scenes with computer generated imagery. This technology will be implemented to prepare employees for the revolution in the ‘Digital Built Environment’ where the whole life cycle from design through to post construction maintenance is increasingly data-driven with concepts such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) now an integral part of construction programmes. Imagine a maintenance engineer with the ability to overlay digital

imagery that explains the complexities of the 3D environment as they walk around an unfamiliar building.

CWIC will provide overall project management for this two-year programme, with four key training strands: •

Drones in the Construction Industry-led

by Kier Construction Ltd. Typical training would include the use of drones for site surveying, 3D environmental mapping and building maintenance.

• Wood finishing and Paint Spraying – led by CWIC. • Working at Height – led by Altrad UK. •

Building Deconstruction - led by Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC), using laser-scanning and high quality rendering to produce a virtual deconstruction of a building.

A ‘Hub and Spoke’ delivery model will be adopted to cover GB. This will enable the project to be scaled up as demand grows.

Building Bridges with Tomorrow’s Engineers!

In November, CWIC and its partners were delighted to welcome 70 pupils from local schools to take part in a day of fun civil engineering bridge building challenges as part of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru Engineering Team Challenge.

and it was clear the school pupils not only enjoyed the experience but learned a lot about the civil engineering industry and the range of job roles.”

The event, one of a number held across the country, helped celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Wales.

CWIC Director Gerald Naylor said: “CWIC was delighted to host this exciting event for the first time at the new CWIC Hub

Learning about Civil Engineering

Go Construct – Educate The Contextualised Curriculum Project (CCP), a 3 year CITB funded programme delivering a Pan-Wales Construction education offer targeted at Primary, Secondary and Alternative education providers is almost 2 years complete.

The project will also enhance the current construction focussed Welsh Baccalaureate challenges.

The education offer takes the form of a specially designed toolkit compromising of uniform, easy to read lesson plans

Learning about construction at a young age

around STEAM, Construction and PSHE subjects.

Once complete these materials will be available to anyone, via registration to the Go Construct website post January 2020.

Led by Bouygues UK the CCP Consortium was established in May 2017 and includes CITB Cymru, UWTSD, Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC), WRW Construction, Kier Construction, the CIOB and Careers Wales.

The following table shows a timeline for the key milestones in the delivery of this ambitious educational project; ACTIVITY

BY WHEN

Desktop research early indicators report

June 2017

Full Analysis of Data / Gap Analysis

September 2017

Establishment of 3x Regional Focus Groups

September 2017

Toolkit Development Completion - approval of pilot materials

October 2018

Launch of 3 x Region Pilot Project

November 2018

Pilot completion, review and evaluation

July 2019

Pan Wales publicity Campaign planning

October 2019

Official Launch on Go Construct - Live Campaign

January 2020

Learning technology specialists, Aspire2Be were commissioned to develop the resources for the toolkit which are now complete and cover all key stages in a project based thematic approach. The resources are totally interactive and cover skills in; literacy, numeracy and digital competency and are all focussed around Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths (STEAM) and construction.

The project is now in its pilot phase and has been re-branded Go Construct – Educate. Workshops have taken place

Using technology to trial the toolkit

with pilot schools and industry partners and current feedback is excellent.

There is currently a huge skills gap within the construction sector across Wales which is forecast to continue to increase in the future. The need to highight the opportunities available in construction to all children as a good career choice is greater than ever. This project aims to increase early exposure to construction for young people whilst linking to their curriculum and enhancing their learning.

Community Engagement is key to addressing the skills gap A proactive, collaborative and innovative partnership created between Kier, the CITB, CIOB, University of Wales Trinity St David, CWIC and Careers Wales is addressing the skills crisis facing the built environment. Known as Go Construct: Engage this programme has been created to change perceptions of the construction industry and to address the current and future skills gap. As identified in the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ (UKCES) 2015-2018 Employer Skills Survey findings show that employers are struggling to fill one in three construction vacancies, up from one in four in 2013, because they can’t find people with the right skills.

Companies like Kier and others have a vital role to play in changing mind-sets, reducing stereotyping, providing training and bridging the gap between the next generation and the industry.

Based on detailed research conducted with the University of Wales Trinity St David into understanding the barriers to entry into the industry, 90% of interviewees representing education (primary, secondary & alternative providers) said they do not have any engagement with the construction industry. 81% said they were not aware of any engagement schemes offered by the construction industry.

So as an industry, if we are not engaging and working with students and local communities how can we expect things to change? However, conversely responses from industry to the question, ‘Do you think engaging with schools would be beneficial to your company? 90% said yes, 65% said they already engage with schools and 90% said they would like to be part of the Go Construct: Engage project.

Lead organisation of the Go Construct: Engage project, Kier is committed to working nationally to mobilise and support the industry to raise awareness of the dynamic job opportunities and to address the imminent future skills gap.

Kier has been working with Llangatwg Community School, Neath – providing engaging activities led by industry experts from the business. Kier aim to move away from ad-hoc engagement by building strong working links with the school, embedding awareness of the industry into learning and working alongside them to attract more young people to consider a career in construction. As a result, the school now have a stimulating learning environment to help pupils prepare for their future.

Lucy Moderate, Llangatwg School: ‘Thank you again for all your teams’ hard work. The pupils showed a lot of interest and engaged well with the activities. Pupils I spoke to particularly enjoyed the Bricklaying and Lego challenges as they were more hands on. A few of our higher ability boys have hinted that they are opting for one of the DT courses with the events of the day contributing towards their decision which is fantastic’.

Bringing the industry together, from clients to contractors to supply chain, we can educate and engage with more people, with a collective voice and then share best practice and highlight what is working.

For further information about this project or to receive a copy of the report please contact jess.Morgan@kier.co.uk

Swapping the classroom for the construction site Skills on Site (SonS) – CWIC’s initiative for students from further and higher education to capitalise on the availability of learning opportunities on live construction sites is now in its second year.

Launched in 2017 there have been several visits to sites where students have been able to learn about the use of drones in construction, Mechanical and Engineering Connectivity and Regulations, Contractual Procedures and Tenders Bids, Site Logistics to issues related to Substructure, Superstructure and Design.

Since December 2018 Huw Thomas, Assistant Curriculum Head: Technology & Skills at Coleg Ceredigion has taken on a co-ordinating role to develop the programme.

With an ambitious plan to organise 30 visits by the end of August 2019 Huw is keen to hear from construction companies who are able to offer their live site for a visit.

He said, “This is an invaluable opportunity and thankfully further education establishments are grasping the opportunity of having a taught session in the workplace. Tutors are constantly under pressure to fulfil the requirements of specific courses and their duties within an establishment, there is not always time to organise trips and visits. Due to the coordination of the Skills on Site programme, a majority of the organising is carried out on behalf of the establishment, as well as having an opportunity to claim back funding to cover costs”.

Recent visits have included a session on Building Information Modelling (BIM) and a chance to use VR and AR technology delivered by Ian Massey, Regional BIM Manager of Bouygues UK for students on the BSc (Hons) Construction Management and Technology at Coleg Sir Gar. He was able to explain to them about how the company implements BIM across their UK construction sites.

These are just a small selection of the comments made by students; “From the BIM session I attended I really enjoyed being able to experience a virtual reality projection of a new planned building whilst gaining knowledge on how virtual reality assists with construction project management.”

“The visit made me realise just how much BIM can help a client visualise a project through new technologies such as VR & AR” “I learned a lot about how building regulations & techniques are tested in 3D and it was really interesting to hear about common issues and constraints from people working with the software” “Bouygues is an exciting company that demonstrated an innovative approach an outlook on new modern technologies in construction. The CWIC centre is an excellent venue.”

In Cardigan Interserve are building a new £24 million Integrated Health Care centre.

Through the SonS initiative Interserve have hosted a couple of visits. On the second visit Interserve covered Construction Design and Management Regulations with apprentices studying the Level 4 CIOB course.

Ian Lewis, the project manager, delivered a session that explained how they run their site on a day to day basis, how they overcome any challenges and how the whole workforce work as a team to ensure that the project stays on schedule.

For the next few months there will be a programme of visits to a number of construction sites which we will report on in the next newsletter and on the website.

If you would like us to arrange a Skills on Site visit please contact us at cwic@uwtsd.ac.uk

Developing Offsite Construction CWIC has partnered with the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) and others for the purpose of securing CITB funding to train the next generation of offsite construction workers. The overall aim is to train new or retrain existing workers in new skills to meet the growing market for modern methods of construction across Great Britain.

•

The project will create an offsite competency framework that will be used to inform the development of learning materials.

•

•

•

Content will be developed in line with the framework and will cover the subject areas identified by the commission.

Rohan Bush, CSIC Head of Public Partnerships and Future Workforce, said: “It is time to think differently about construction, because carrying on as we are is simply not an option – our industry needs to modernise. Offsite construction can efficiently deliver a high quality, masscustomisable product that is technically advanced, offering social, environmental and economic benefits. It can speed up the construction process, lower the impact of adverse weather conditions on projects, and reduce costs while also improving safety. But to ensure that offsite becomes mainstream, we need a workforce with the necessary skills – and that’s where these projects come in.”

Content will be modular and accredited, for a wide range of uses and mapped to relevant L2-7 qualifications and standards.

• Guidance will be developed to help trainers contextualize modules to their particular subject area.

•

The project will develop behavioural skills as well as knowledge through experiential learning that includes classroom enrichment, immersive and real-world experiences, as well as a sustainable network of experts to share knowledge, maintain and support the products.

•

Up to 600 trainers will be upskilled in the materials across three nations, alongside an outreach programme in secondary schools and with teachers.

•

Sustainability will be achieved by hosting on a bespoke, freely accessible online platform, in a format compatible with other platforms so resources can be freely downloaded and shared.

CWIC has been involved in the project’s development and along with its pan- Wales partners (Spokes) will deliver this agenda throughout Wales this summer.

Growing offsite construction for future demand

CWIC hosted WorldSkills Team selection Known as the ‘Skills Olympics’, the WorldSkills Competition see the world’s best apprentices and students battle it out to win Gold, Silver and Bronze in their chosen skill. The UK is currently tenth in the WorldSkills rankings following its medal success at the last WorldSkills Competition in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

In early March, alongside other team selection competitions, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC) hosted 6 team selection events, along with a variety of engagement events for schools, colleges and university students.

These events showcased various pathways into construction and demonstrated innovative technology such as new digital construction tools and virtual reality training equipment.

CWIC was delighted to host the WorldSkills UK Team Selection Competition for Cabinet Making, Carpentry and Joinery in CWIC’s dedicated and fully equipped Constructzone. The six highly skilled competitors from across the UK spent the week battling it out for a coveted place in the final which takes place in August in Kazan, Russia.

Barry Liles, OBE, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Skills & Lifelong Learning) at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David said:

Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, Chief Executive, WorldSkills UK, which manages the UK’s entry into the WorldSkills Competition said: “University of Wales Trinity Saint David offers state of the art facilities for us to use to select the UK’s top apprentices and students to compete on the world stage.

“Working with training providers like University of Wales Trinity Saint David and businesses throughout the UK, we can transfer the insights gained from competing against other countries into the wider economy, driving up training standards in the UK to world-class levels, boosting productivity.”

Along with hosting the event, CWIC has representation within the coveted WorldSkills competition. Our Centre Manager, Gareth Wyn Evans is the current UK Expert for Carpentry.

This demanding role sees Gareth coach and mentor the UK’s leading young talents towards achieving international success.

His work sees him travel extensively across the world sharing best practices with other countries and gathering valuable knowledge on the latest construction technologies and practices demonstrated around the globe.

“As a provider of high-level skills, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s CWIC was delighted to host one of the prestigious WorldSkills UK team selection events at our new SA1 Swansea Waterfront development.

We recognise the immense benefits to both our students and staff arising from engagement with skills competitions.

As a dual sector University in Wales, we have a long and prestigious record in developing our learners as competitors on the world stage.

The experience gained in these competitions is invaluable for preparing students with the skills and knowledge they need for industry.

Hosting a team selection event illustrates to our stakeholders the importance we place on developing high level skills”.

WorldSkills competitors

Brand New Facilities Several months have already passed since CWIC opened its doors in October 2018. During that short time, we have welcomed nearly a thousand visitors from the construction industry and other related sectors, who have made use of the impressive facilities we have available.

The facilities available in CWIC are varied with a whole host of spaces and rooms available across our 1000 sqm facility.

CWIC’s ConstructZone, which is located on the ground floor is a 284 sqm space and is suitable for a variety of purposes.

These have ranged from the delivery of practical training to the hosting of large conference style events. Our wellequipped workshop contains a variety of high-quality machine tools supplied

by Felder UK, alongside general workshop facilities and audio-visual conferencing technology.

Both are fully equipped with the latest audio-visual presentation and teleconferencing hardware and software.

CWIC’s second floor is made up of informal networking and open meeting spaces. These spaces are designed to provide a variety of hot desking or informal meeting options.

For formal meetings we have a boardroom, which seats up to 14 people.

This is equipped with a large touch screen PC, AV connectivity and various teleconferencing options. Larger meetings for up to 30 people can be catered for within our OpenZone. This versatile 93 sqm space can be reconfigured to suit several different layout options as required.

We can also cater for smaller meetings within the adjoining FlexiZone. This room is linked to the OpenZone and is suitable for up to 4 people.

On the first floor we have a cutting-edge computing suite. The DigitalZone houses 12 ultra-high spec computers, loaded with a range of current innovative software including Autodesk,Revit, the innovative rendering software Enscape and BIM 360.

This suite is used extensively to upskill industry in the use of digital construction techniques and is home to a variety of visualisation hardware, such as virtual and augmented reality kits.

CWIC is delighted to host training courses, meetings, networking opportunities and other events for individuals, companies and organisations linked to the construction industry. All our facilities come free of charge. Should you require low cost catering options our catering team would be happy to assist.

The first floor also comprises 2 well-lit and ventilated flexible LearningZones. These have a combined floor space of 45.5 sqm, which can be kept as one large space or divided into 2. Each space will seat up to 34 theatre style and up to 24 cabaret style.

If you would like to visit or book the facilities, please get in touch with julie.evans@uwtsd.ac.uk

Free parking is available nearby, however details must be provided in advance.

OpenZone

LearningZone

Boardroom

DigitalZone

ConstructZone

New £1.5M Facility means learners can stay in Wales to gain full scaffolding training Work has commenced on South Wales’ only comprehensive scaffolding training facility. Led by the Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC) in partnership with Construction Industry Training Board Wales (CITB), the new centre will be located at a purposely built facility on Fabian Way in Swansea Bay. The new facility means that students based in Wales wishing to gain extensive scaffolding training will no longer have to travel to England or beyond to acquire a full set of skills.

The facility is currently undergoing a £1.5 million (approx) refurbishment to

“Currently anyone in Wales wanting to access the full range of training that CWIC and CITB will be delivering within the Access Hall has to travel outside of Wales to do so.

“There is a huge demand for these programmes and we’re delighted that work is underway on this new centre which will be open at the end of the summer. We have worked with a range of partners to realise our ambition for this facility which enhances CWIC’s offer to the construction industry in Wales and ensures that employers in the sector can access professional qualifications and accreditation closer to home”.

Gerald Naylor Director of CWIC

create a dedicated scaffolding training centre, also known as the Access Hall, including classroom and IT facilities.

comprising nine training bays and three dedicated classrooms, one with IT facilities.

The Access Hall will be the only Construction Industry Scaffolding Record Scheme (CISRS) approved facility in South Wales delivering the full range of working at height training to new entrants, apprentices, up-skillers, supervisors and inspectors.

In addition, CWIC is seeking to work with National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) members to provide further guidance and direction in meeting the training and development needs of the scaffolding industry in Wales.

Under the guidance of a leading UK scaffolding training company, the existing building is currently being refurbished to CISRS requirements. It will have an internal floor area of around 2,000 square meters

“The new scaffolding facility is a great example of how CITB’s investment in CWIC is making a difference to learners and employers. For too long our students have had to travel beyond Wales to find comprehensive scaffolding training.

“CWIC and CITB have listened to industry and invested in these critical skills needs. The new facility will increase the number of scaffolding learners in Wales and provide a platform of opportunity from which students can launch fulfilling, rewarding construction careers”.

Mark Bodger CITB Wales Strategic Partnership Director

“Our partnership with CITB is delivering world-class training and bespoke programmes for this hugely important sector to the Welsh economy. Access to such facilities and expertise through CWIC gives employers the confidence to develop their employees and to recruit new entrants into the industry”.

Barry Liles, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Skills and Lifelong Learning at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD)