Construction sector should do more for diversity, urges report

The construction sector needs to do more to avoid being viewed as 'macho, dirty and stuck in the old ways of doing things', according to a report funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, announced last week.

The report, 'Diversity in the UK construction industry-building competitive advantage', offers one of the first looks into the costs of diversity initiatives for the construction sector, and highlights that it is struggling in terms of disability, gender, race and age.

Dr Jan Peters of Katalytik, author of the report, urges the sector to collaborate on a respect campaign across all the under-represented minorities in construction. 'Construction may seem caught up in competition, when the reality, hard as it may seem now, is that over the next few years there will be massive skills shortages,' she said.

Whilst the report also drew attention to the fact that the construction industry was even less adept at dealing with more complex issues, such as religious, lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender issues, she did think that progress was being made that could bring industry-wide benefits. 'Engaging with more diverse communities will open up new talent pools and enable companies to build better relationships with the communities in which they are building,' said Peters.

Comments

Typical that at a time when Industry is struggling to make a profit that a taxpayer funded body thinks we should worry about how we cope with diversity. We are dealing with the real diversity and it has nothing to do with disability, gender or race.
There will be an increasing deamnd for skills in ALL industries but our national workforce is generally poorly educated. Who cares whether they are black, pink or half hearted transvestites? If they can do the job they will be able to earn money and keep the country afloat. Whether we can afford to keep paying for self righteous public servants to beat our breasts for us is entirely another matter.

22nd Jul 2011, at 05:09 PM
Grahame Wiggin

I am now retired after working in the building trade for 49 years as a surveyor. I was of the opinion that the introduction of "health & safety" legislation seroiuslly hindered the building trade. I hope they are not considering legislation for the the rubbish detailed above. The building trade is swamped with unecessary legistlation and paper work

23rd Jul 2011, at 09:30 PM
Eddie Monk