Addressing Scotland’s skills gap

Morgan Sindall and SCAPE Scotland have been collaboratively working together for over 10 years through our Construction framework. Morgan Sindall are passionate about social value and as the SCAPE Scotland framework is a ‘two-stage tender’ framework, early contractor engagement is encouraged and actively promoted to allow transparency from the outset. As well as proven to improve buildability, save time and save money, this early engagement allows our clients to set out their social value ambitions for their local communities at the very start of each project, which allows our delivery partners to deliver meaningful local value throughout.

Below, Morgan Sindall explore what the skills shortage situation in Scotland looks like, and shares their activities in supporting young people into working within the built environment, and shaping the training opportunities through collaborative initiatives.

We are targeted with engaging with schools and young people which forms part of our KPIs through the SCAPE Scotland framework and our project commitments agreed with local authorities, however the main aim of these is to encourage young people into careers in construction.

The engagement is positive however it is creating a vicious circle – we know young people want to come into the industry, the problem we are facing, is that the jobs do not exist.

Morgan Sindall are leading a Scotland-wide Skills Shortage Forum. The first meeting took place in May 2025, with 27 members across varying trades and sectors across industry represented. Currently Morgan Sindall are the only main contractor on the forum, however we are in talks with other Tier 1’s to open this up to encourage further representation. The aim of the group is to have a collective voice for industry and work with CITB and Scottish Government to review apprenticeships and transferable skills into construction with the funding and everything else that comes with it. The forum is also looking at how we deal with the other imminent problem that we have, which is the rapidly ageing workforce – we are losing ‘teachers’ to bring on those early in their construction careers. The group are currently working towards agreeable solutions to propose at Scottish Government level.

Our Learning & Development and Social Value teams have become a point of reference for those seeking a route in to the industry – they are frequently being approach and actively engaged with these individuals where they are being approached and asked for information regarding apprenticeships and opportunities – “what are the best ways into the industry”, “what is the best way to prepare?”, “what do I need on my CV to be considered?”. Our teams are essentially utilised for seeking best approach into industry.

Morgan Sindall are active members of the Employer Network Steering Group – taking part in regular discussions to discuss what type of training CITB should fund and agree as a group how to use portions of accessible funding to best benefit industry

Morgan Sindall are presenting at the CITB conference in Perth in September. This main-stage presentation will focus on our Work Tasters and how they can impact on talent pipeline

Morgan Sindall are working with the supply chain in Dumfries and Galloway, along with Dumfries and Galloway College to explore how we can seek out more opportunities to work closer with local SMEs and microbusinesses. There are large opportunities across Scotland and these opportunities need to be accessible for SMEs and microbusinesses to work on these opportunities – these businesses need these opportunities to keep them in industry. They are often experienced craftspeople and if we lose them from industry we widen the skills gap – we’re not just looking at young people into industry but retaining craft within the industry.

Technology is ever evolving in every industry, and we must move with the times. All of our disciplines must keep innovating - there aren’t necessarily ‘AR Managers’ but AR will impact most managers across various roles. Colleagues need to be upskilled to utilise the emerging tech

New roles should and will become available within the digital space however a foundational knowledge in construction should not be overlooked

We need to embrace the roles of tomorrow and we showcase this at the Work Taster events we host – such as SCAPEing out a world of Work where we have welcomed young people who want to work in gaming, now exploring options in Design Management or Digital Construction roles.

It’s important we remain mindful of the current position, as new roles will emerge whilst current roles still need fulfilled, as without the skills shortage gap being closed we will not be able to build

At this early stage the relationship between Morgan Sindall and the CITB is going from strength to strength as we work with most departments within CITB, including at Director level, to ensure a collaborative approach to the skills shortage challenge in construction

Refer back to CITB Conference in September

We are currently waiting to hear if we have been successful in a funding application from CITB to fund a future work taster programme

Stonemasonry – ties back into working group. There isn’t a Scottish apprenticeship framework available for stonemasonry, apart from the curriculum currently offered by Historic Environment Scotland. In addition, there are no tiling apprenticeships, no screeding/concrete apprenticeships, no advanced craft roofing (affecting listed building, ie turrets, etc) apprenticeships – these are all items being addressed at the working group which CITB are supportive of.

CITB apprenticeship spaces are currently 1,500 per year, a figure set by Skills Development Scotland. This figure hasn’t changed in more than 10 years, and we are working as a group to review what this solution looks like.

• For young people, it’s all about encouraging and facilitating their passions, and make these careers feel within reach and open the pathways to them. For example, we identified a number of budding stonemasons at Twechar Primary School and are working with Historic Environment Scotland to host a stonemasonry workshop at the school this September.

• We are reliant on our supply chain to help us build a skilled workforce – we can help shape this through shared apprenticeships etc,
• Contractual commitments – we are actively assessing supply chain tender returns with a quality scoring mechanism which includes social value commitments centred around supporting young people into the industry

Since its inception in November 2021, our Joint Venture Apprenticeship model with TIGERS has bridged positive destinations for young people across Scotland. 153 young people have gained experience through the pre-apprenticeship programme, with 90 of these young people progressing on to the Joint Venture apprenticeship. This would not be possible without the support of the 27 supply chain partners who have embraced this model and welcomed the young people into their businesses.

The whole industry needs to join forces to open training and recruitment opportunities. By making a concerted effort as a collective, can we then truly engage with young people and educate them on the full myriad of opportunities on offer within construction.

A brief bit about social value through SCAPE Scotland and three examples below to encourage social value delivery.