Sector skills research
ASC is part of a major Government programme to tackle the skills issues facing the sustainable communities sector.
We commissioned Arup to assess gaps in the supply and demand of skills so we could assess progress to date and accelerate our programmes to meet growing areas of need. While many successes have been achieved, we wanted to know: as a sector, are we doing enough and are we doing it fast enough? How do we renew and accelerate our combined efforts?
The Arup study - Mind the Skills Gap: A Review of the Skills We Need for Sustainable Communities - builds on the work of the Egan Review and York Consulting, which reviewed all available published data. It involved both a quantitative assessment - the number of trained people in the different professions - and a qualitative assessment of competencies in generic skills, such as stakeholder management, communication and partnership working.
» Download a copy of the report - Mind the Skills Gap
The study found that England faces a significant shortage of qualified professionals with the necessary skills to deliver sustainable communities between now and 2012 unless significant efforts are taken to address these problems.
It emphasises the importance of multidisciplinary working and the fact that the best projects result from full engagement of all professionals. Organisational cultures increasingly need to reflect team working and a partnership approach.
The study demonstrates that we need an increased national drive to address labour shortages and gaps in generic skills. As the Government's centre of excellence for sustainable communities, ASC plans to lead this drive by rolling out a number of initiatives, including short courses, a foundation degree and careers campaigns. Many of these initiatives are being undertaken with professional institutes and education partners.
The study provides comprehensive information on:
- Current labour shortages
- Projected labour shortages
- Generic skills gaps in the core sustainable communities occupations such as
- planning
- engineering
- surveying
- economic development
- housing
- community development
- Get a copy of the final report
The Arup study consisted of an online survey of 146 organisations and 763 individuals, as well as case study audits of sustainable community organisations and projects. The forecasting model was based on continuation of current trends to indicate the speed and direction of labour market changes.
