subject: Buildings Recruitment Picking Up Pace [print this page] Buildings Recruitment Picking Up Pace Buildings Recruitment Picking Up Pace
February saw the strongest growth in the Construction industry in 8 months. Whilst clients in the Buildings market remain cautious, we are finding increasingly that they are running at capacity and beginning to think about recruitment. As the private sector market gathers momentum, it is hoped that profit margins will begin to improve creating opportunities for new recruits on both a contract and permanent basis.
In the last few months a number of high profile UK based building schemes have started to pick up pace. In London, the return of a trend for high-rise development continues to gain momentum. Construction is in full flow on The Shard and Pinnacle Tower developments whilst go-ahead has been given to The Leadenhall Tower, better known as the Cheesegrater due to it's tapering form and 20 Fenchurch Street (Walkie-Talkie Tower) is also due to commence shortly. In Scotland, the Ravenscraig Development, a redevelopment of a former steelworks is in full swing, the 500m second phase of the scheme which includes the new town centre.
The fall in government investment since the start of the financial year has had a big impact on the value of construction projects starting on site, most strikingly in the health sector. However, sectors such as education and social housing are also suffering a marked decline in project starts, and their diminished prospects are not expected to improve over the medium term.
The growth in commercial and retail schemes going ahead has been steady whilst the rest of the private non-residential sector is expected to pick up. In particular, falling vacancy rates and rising rentals are expected to promote investment in new buildings in the industrial and office sectors, especially during the second half of 2011.
Career wise, it is our expectation that the hardest hit from the down turn, namely Graduate Engineers and Technicians in this sector should begin to find their skills in more demand. Due to the lack of Graduate recruitment in the construction industry for the last 3 years, we are now experiencing a shortage of intermediate level candidates in the building structures and building services sectors.
As a result of this the Buildings Recruitment teams are particularly keen to hear from engineering candidates with the following skill sets:
Graduate Building Services Engineers (M&E) with some UK consultancy experience
Graduate Building Structures Engineers with some UK consultancy experience
