The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is backing an industry campaign to recruit armed forces personnel into the construction industry.

With 230,000 new recruits needed in the sector by 2020, the 'BuildForce' drive aims to raise awareness of careers in the industry for ex-service personnel and veterans, as well as strengthening recruitment pathways.

The campaign is partly funded by CITB and is led by a group of founding companies including: Carillion, Crossrail, EY, Lendlease, Morgan Sindall and Wilson James. The initiative is expanding to include more partners following its successful 18-month pilot.

In a recent CIBO survey of over 700 construction professionals, 77% agreed ex-service personnel "could help plug the management skills gap" in the sector.

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Andrew Parker, Director of Defence at Morgan Sindall and Chair of BuildForce, said: "With nearly 20,000 men and women leaving the armed forces every year, this provides a natural resource of managerial talent for employers. In many cases, ex-military personnel have already developed strong leadership and management skills, but may lack specific construction knowledge.

"Our aim at BuildForce is to bridge that gap, alerting people to the opportunities in the construction sector at an earlier stage in their military career, providing access to training, mentoring and working with organisations such as CIOB to help them gain built-environment qualifications before they leave the services."

Chris Chivers CIOB President said: "Construction is a people-based industry, and it needs leaders just as urgently as those with technical skills. For ex-military personnel, there has never been a better time to join the sector. Technological advances are creating new and exciting opportunities.

"But without a pipeline of new decision makers, the UK construction sector's growth and global competitiveness will be severely under threat. It's important that we act together to establish and strengthen recruitment paths across the armed forces, tapping into this very valuable resource, supporting our ex-military personnel and boosting the UK economy."

'BuildForce' will be officially launched at a CIOB parliamentary reception on 29 June.

(LM/MH)