Transform Construction, Transform Employment, Improve Health
There is a proven relationship between higher employment rates, health and life expectancy. According to the Health Foundation, an increase of ten percentage points in the employment rate leads to an increase of five years in healthy life expectancy.
This is highly relevant right now. The true unemployment rate is masked by support to help firms cope with Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions. As Government support is withdrawn, most people expect unemployment to jump. Some businesses may disappear altogether.
One really positive way in which lost jobs will be replaced (often with something more stimulating and better paid) is in a construction sector undergoing transformation. Construction is becoming more factory based and more digitally enabled. This is good news for a number of reasons.
Healthcare Construction
Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) should be preferred for the large number of healthcare construction projects being commissioned. This opens secure paid employment to a much wider range of people with more diverse skills. It also has the potential to create well paid jobs and careers where they are most needed – outside of London and the South East.
Training the workforce needed to deliver projects using MMC is a major challenge for employers and training bodies. But even if the industry wasn’t transforming to new methods, people would still have to be trained (the nation has major shortages of traditional construction skills).
MMC related careers develop skills that can be transferred to other sectors and lead to jobs that are attractive to a wider range of people. Greater diversity and inclusion will be significant benefits.
The skills needed to deliver healthcare building programmes with MMC include digital design, lean manufacturing, data management, project management, logistics and onsite installation. With a long-term approach to procurement and work pipelines and a commitment to modern methods, the industry will have the confidence to invest fully in developing new skills.
Making the most of the opportunity to embrace new construction methods and technologies leads directly to diverse employment opportunities and ultimately to better health and wellbeing. This, in turn, will help reduce the burden on future healthcare provision.
