'Fantastic opportunities' on horizon for much-needed construction apprentices, says Hudson Contract boss

Ian Anfield is from Bridlington-based family firm Hudson Contract which provides business services to construction SMEs and in recent years has sponsored more than 260 apprentices to start their careers with regional firms.

Mr Anfield’s own career began at 16 as a civil engineering apprentice for infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty and he spent 17 years working his way up the construction trade before joining Hudson Contract in 2007.

Recent figures suggest the construction industry needs more than 250,000 extra construction workers by 2028 to meet expected demand for various infrastructure projects.

“Construction is a great industry and skilled tradespeople are earning around £1,000 a week at a time you are reading about how the bad economy is,” he said.

He said plans for new nuclear power stations, additional house-building and net zero schemes will all require more construction workers while Brexit has reduced the numbers of EU nationals coming to this country to work on infrastructure projects.

"There are going to be fantastic opportunities for people coming into the construction industry,” he said.

In his own career, Mr Anfield, who is originally from Bridlington, left school at 16 and combined college training in Norfolk with working on major infrastructure projects around the country, including the building of Sheffield’s Supertram network.

As his career progressed, he worked on other projects such as the Heathrow Express rail line and went onto become a project manager for Alfred McAlpine.

"When you are a project manager, the buck stops with you and you are responsible for millions of pounds being spent and millions of man hours.”

He joined Hudson Contract, which was founded by his stepfather David Jackson, in 2007. The business helps construction firms with issues like tax affairs and payroll calculations.

"The things I learnt in the early days about the industry and the way people work is invaluable to me now,” he said.

Mr Anfield said it is now more complicated to get an apprenticeship than when he started one in the early 1990s.

"To do what I did you would now need A-Levels or a T-Level and gain a degree-level apprenticeship,” he said. “So what I did in four years would take seven years.”

He said the current Apprenticeship Levy system, in which the Government takes money from major employers that it tops up to help fund apprentices, is not working as intended with numbers considerably down on what they were before it was introduced in 2017. Under the current system, funds that are not used within two years expire and go to Government.

He said the system is further complicated by multiple funding streams and added the construction industry more generally needs greater certainty on long-term infrastructure plans from government, following the cancellation of much of HS2.

“The message for the new Government would be that if you really want good-quality apprenticeships and long-term employment and give people the confidence to invest their time and money, we need a sustainable infrastructure plan the Government stick to and deliver.”

He said in addition to frequent changes to HS2 under the Conservatives, Labour’s announcement it will delay the building of the planned A27 bypass in Sussex if elected is another example is another example of a scheme industry has been preparing for being placed in doubt.

As part of its ongoing commitment to supporting apprentices in the construction industry, Hudson Contract has a dedicated apprenticeship ambassador called Fiona Gamwell.

Mr Anfield said: “We want to try and raise awareness. If the thing that is putting people off hiring apprentices is all the complexity and noise around it, Fiona can help navigate it.”

Hudson’s apprenticeship scheme sees it paying a wage contribution of £50 per apprentice per week for the first year of training with local employers.

The company is also sponsoring the inaugural East Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards, which will take place at the MKM Stadium in Hull on September 19 and are organised by The Yorkshire Post’s parent company National World.

The event will celebrate the work of apprentices, trainers and companies across 14 different categories. To nominate, enter by July 17 via https://www.nationalworldevents.com/eya-2024/