Over the last few weeks I’ve been asking people around Stoke-on-Trent if they’ve heard of the District Heat Network.
Their answer is often the same – “no, I’ve never heard of it."
While they’ve seen the roads being dug up and pipes being laid, they aren’t always aware that this major new infrastructure and investment will reduce their energy prices and create vast job opportunities for the next generation.
As we speak, some 18km of pipe is being laid under the city to provide geothermal energy, forming the basis for further expansion in the decades to come. The £50m project is one of the key components in an overall investment of £500m in a smart energy system in Stoke-on-Trent over the next six to seven years.
Last year the government published its long-awaited construction sector deal and reinforced its commitment to growing this industry, identifying it as a key priority.
But while the work is increasing, the skills are declining. So how do we fill this gap and get young people excited about construction?
As government policy and human behaviour changes, the construction industry adapts. Major new projects bring exciting opportunities for this sector – for example as the 海角视频 focuses on renewable energy, projects like the District Heat Networks will create thousands of jobs and an opportunity for young people to skill up in new areas of construction.
At Stoke-on-Trent College we react to these changes by developing courses that help young people to learn the skills they need for the future.
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We’re also developing a District Heat Skills Academy, funded by the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). This will give people the skills needed to design, supply and maintain the new geothermal energy networks because we know this will create a vast number of jobs.
Attracting people to courses like this can be tough. In a world of tech start-ups and entrepreneurs, trades can be perceived as old fashioned. Yet with the advent of digital skills in construction, such as Buildings Information Modelling (BIM), and the fact that young people are becoming increasingly eco-conscious and committed to saving the planet, what better way to do this than to build the infrastructure that allows the 海角视频 to run on 100 per cent renewable energy?
So, it’s important that we inspire them to look at construction in a different way – it’s building a better, greener, more sustainable future for the world and they can be a part of that.
Saving the planet is an exciting incentive but what else does a construction course give students?
If it takes them into a career in construction, which I hope that it will, they’ll benefit from average weekly earnings of £607 a week, second only to the finance and business services sector, and could find themselves earning up to £100,000 a year as a construction manager.
It’s an exciting prospect – the chance to have a rewarding, well paid, fulfilling career in a sector with an abundance of jobs and the knowledge that you are part of a movement to save the planet.
Now it’s time to get the message out there to the people who need to hear it the most – the future talent of the construction sector.
Ryan Johnson is Campus Director for STEM and Construction at Stoke on Trent College.