Gardiner & Theobald has been appointed by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills as lead employer for a proposed trailblazer apprenticeship in surveying, including professional QSing and building surveying.
The construction consultancy will lead a group of employers collaborating to set skills standards for the new apprenticeship, which will cover roles in consultant (professional) quantity surveying, building surveying, commercial property surveying, valuation and planning and development surveying.
Gardiner & Theobald’s senior partner Tony Burton, the current chairman of the Construction Industry Council, has previously discussed launching a “cut-price” quantity surveying degree with London South Bank University.
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The other employers in the group are Axis Europe, Gascoigne Halman, CBRE, Martin Arnold Associates, Collier and Madge, DSB, Turner and Townsend, DTZ, Valuation Office Agency and EC Harris.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is also involved in supporting the new initiative.
Trailblazer apprenticeships aim to address skills shortage in industry sectors, with construction identified as a key sector in need. They give employers and professional bodies the opportunity to develop standards for occupations, which will become the industry standard when introduced.
The trailblazers also implement the employer-friendly reforms proposed in the Richard Review of apprenticeships. However, the industry is still waiting for full clarification on how the new funding mechanisms for apprenticeship training that – with government funds directed to employers rather than colleges and training providers – are due to be implemented.
The government is expected to confirm full details shortly, ahead of their introduction in 2016-17. But it’s expected that trials in the 2014 to 2015 academic year will see funding still routed from the Skills Funding Agency directly to training providers.
Skills minister Nick Boles said: “I congratulate Gardiner & Theobald for the key role it is playing in developing new top-quality apprenticeships. Through the trailblazers initiative companies like
Gardiner & Theobald, in collaboration with their industry partners, will give people the skills they need to thrive and our businesses need to compete.”
Contractors Laing O’Rourke, Seddon Group, Carillion, Balfour Beatty, Kier and Costain are among a group of construction employers developing standards for trailblazers in plant hire, piling, digital engineering or BIM, wood occupations, offsite assembly and construction management.
