Building your workforce for today, and tomorrow
BCITO has a longstanding partnership with industry that is specifically focused on helping construction employers get the right people, with the right skills when you need them. You can be proud of your partnership with us that helps thousands of people entering, and in, the industry to forge awesome careers through quality apprenticeship/training programmes.
In broad terms, your partnership with BCITO stands for:
- world-class training across 16 construction trades. Not just one.
- being proudly New Zealand owned and operated for our industry.
- over 50,000 qualified tradies, with more to come.
- more than 16,000 construction apprentices in communities countrywide.
- 34 years of experience training successful construction apprentices.
More specifically, BCITO has increased support for learners across the board. By way of a couple of examples, the number of learners receiving support for literacy and numeracy has increased 500% over the past six years to more than a 1,000 per annum. I am constantly amazed at the huge impact this support has on people’s lives. Increasing people’s abilities and confidence in these core areas greatly increases successful apprenticeship completion. Coupled with this, BCITO also led the way to increase female participation and success in the trades. This has been true collaboration with our employers to ensure the removal of barriers for women in construction.
Industry activity
There are a few headwinds facing the market at present – not the least of which is the price of money. While consents for a 12-month period have dropped from over 50,000 to 36,500, they are still very high when compared with the last 20 years. Yet, the drop in consents has not been reflected in the ‘work put in place’, which has only dropped a few percent. Regardless of the cause, reduction in construction activity can be stressful depending on your business focus and model. Interestingly, many of the employers who work with BCITO have noted the benefits of continually training staff when it comes to changes in the market. Those employers with well trained and qualified teams have the depth of technical knowledge and skill to adapt quickly.
Our latest newsletter
Our early focus in 2024 is on growing leaders in construction to help build and fortify our sector. We have engaged a whole new group of young apprentice-leaders and opened our Building Leadership Grants for the first round. We continue to support the diverse and varied workforce of New Zealand with information and tools available to employers when considering employing people with disabilities, and a call for more Pasifika tradies. Sharing knowledge is always helpful too and so we have an Apprenticeship Boost refresher, along with updates on local events and industry happenings, where you’ll also find BCITO. Please stay connected with our work through our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Regards
Greg Durkin, BCITO Director
