North Lanarkshire first Built Environment Skills Summit at Ravenscraig on Friday 22 August brought together nearly 150 industry experts and businesses to tackle critical workforce challenges in one of the region’s most vital employment sectors.
The inaugural event, organised by the Built Environment Sector Board, aimed to create practical, collaborative solutions for skills shortages that are hampering growth across the construction and built environment sector.
Andrew McPherson, Depute Chief Executive, explained: "This summit demonstrated the power of partnership in addressing real-world challenges. North Lanarkshire has a proud industrial heritage that shaped communities across our region, and now we’re building on those foundations for the future.
"Re-establishing a thriving construction and built environment sector is crucial to our economic transformation, it’s not just about creating jobs, but about creating the skilled workforce that will regenerate our towns and communities for generations to come.
"Our hugely successful summer placement programme has already shown what’s possible when we invest in young talent, and today’s summit builds on that momentum to create even more opportunities for our future workforce.”
Attendees gained valuable insights into early research findings on key skills and workforce gaps, explored new training and career pathways developed through the NL Academies in partnership with local colleges and employers.
The summit’s focus on collaboration and practical solutions reflects the sector’s importance as one of North Lanarkshire’s largest employers and its crucial role in driving local economic regeneration.