Stakeholder representatives from professional institutions, academia and contractors met last week, together with the CITB and CIC, for an E4BE education strategy workshop under the chairmanship of Professor Barry Clarke, CIC Champion Life Long Learning, past president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and chair of the E4BE Group.

The aim of the workshop was to focus on the Government’s Construction 2025 strategy and discuss what the stakeholders’ (CIC members, academia and industry) priority activities should be for the next 12 months in order to deliver its vision for the future.

Construction 2025 offers the opportunity to contribute to the action plan and ensure that the voice of the professional bodies, education and skills community and other key stakeholders is heard.

E4BE’s role is to implement co-ordinated activities in support of the Education & Skills agenda and in keeping with the needs of industry, employers, higher education and learners. E4BE was launched in September last year; it is facilitated and led by CIC in partnership with CITB, and its activities include collaborative consultation and research.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the work of this group can participate in E4BE’s Priority Actions Survey by clicking the link here.

In his introductory address to the group Graham Watts, CIC chief executive said: “E4BE’s role is to work with industry stakeholders to address the skills challenges affecting the sector as a whole. E4BE brings together those involved in the professional bodies, higher and further education, employers and skills agencies to provide a collaborative forum for considering how to improve the systems we have in place for recruiting and retaining great people.

“This is a forum for ideas and we welcome participation from as broad a spectrum as possible,” he added.