A new report by EY suggests that shortage of a project managers, particularly in the locations where major projects will take place such as the South West and East of England.
What I found interesting in the report is that it suggests that perhaps mobility of resource compounds the shortage, with London having twice as many project managers than jobs available.
Good news for Crossrail 2 perhaps, but less encouraging for Hinkley Point C and the northern legs of HS2?
With a £500Bn pipeline of major projects in the UK between now and 2021, the shortage may quickly become a crisis if something doesn't change.
But, changing the way we work may be the answer. Increasing the use of technology, mobile working and encouraging new entrants to our industry from nontraditional routes will help us bridge the skills gap, but all these require our industry to change it's attitude to how we work, traditional skill sets and how we construct project teams.
Long-term improvements through increasing apprenticeships and encouraging more students to consider a career in construction, but this impending shortage has to be met by short-term actions.
“We’ve never seen such an increase in demand for project management, commercial and financial skills across infrastructure and government at the same time,” said Joe Stringer, Partner for EY Government and Public Sector. “Combined with the geographic nature of infrastructure programmes, decision makers in most regions can’t assume the skills are there and need to think creatively and embrace better ways of working to ensure that they can deliver projects in a way that provides value for money.”
http://www.constructionmanagermagazine.com/news/major-uk-projects-risk-lack-project-managers-warns/
