By Clive Dunne MSc. Director, Elk Recruitment
Figures released for July 2016 show that the construction industry continues to grow steadily. The statistics were released by the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers Index and were compiled by senior economists at the bank. This is very encouraging news as many had predicted a decline following the first composition of data following the Brexit. Although economic predictors remain cautious there is a growing optimism that the construction sector will continue to experience strong growth going forward. Simon Barry, Ulster Bank’s chief economist in the Republic of Ireland said that new orders have risen to their highest level since March.
New Construction Employees Needed
This predicted growth in the construction industry has led The Chartered Institute of Building to develop a novel new app based on the Minecraft video game in order to train and eventually recruit the next generation of architects and construction employees. In the UK alone, for example, over 400’000 construction workers will retire between 2018 and 2023, which will create an unprecedented vacuum in the industry unless planned for today. The app is called Craft Your Future and can be accessed at ciobmc.org. Minecraft is an open-world building game which allows participants to plan, design and construct everything from houses and skyscrapers to entire cities incorporating electricity grids and water systems.
Minecraft Designs Inspiring Architecture
According to the CIOB, construction sector employees of the future will need such diverse skills such as digital construction technologies, sustainability planning and logistics, just to name three. All of these areas are incorporated into the Minecraft app and already solid results are being observed. At a recent house design competition in the UK four of the finalists were designed using Minecraft. Even more impressive is the feat of Guy MacDonnell, a quantity surveyor for Interserve Construction who won a major construction award for designing and building an update of the CCTV Tower in Beijing using Minecraft. Going forward, Irish recruitment companies and the construction industry itself will be able to access, examine and recommend online portfolio’s of prospective jobseekers which are already being uploaded onto the CIOB website.
