The CEA conference was held yesterday (Wednesday 18th November 2015) at the home of the Institute of Civil Engineers at One Great George Street, London. The conference, which was supported by Volvo Construction Equipment, was well attended with over 150 delegates from the Construction Equipment sector.
Innovation, infrastructure, skills and investment were amongst the topics discussed alongside market prospects and technology. Nick Boles, Minister of State for Skills & Construction was also amongst the speakers talking about the Government skills agenda.
Kicking off the conference proceedings was broadcaster and journalist Nick Higham who has been the MC at a number of past CEA Conferences and CEA President Nigel Baseley.
First to take the stage was Sir Neville Simms chair of the Thames Tideway project which will be the biggest London Construction project since the launch of Crossrail. Sir Neville said that construction work for the new 25 kilometre interception, storage and transfer tunnel running up to 65 metres below the river will begin in 2016.
Built from three main construction drive sites in Fulham, Battersea and Southwark, the Thames Tideway Tunnel is expected to take up to seven years to build, at a cost of £4.2 billion (2014 prices). It will require the use of 24 construction sites, 11 of which are located along the river bank.
Sir Neville also spoke about the projects commitment to skills and how the project will be one of the biggest employers in London. The project insists that 1 in 50 of positions filled must be by an apprentice, two of which Lee and Fiona, attended the conference, and shared their experiences of being a Thames Tideway apprentice.
Stephen Spencer human resources director at GKN Land Systems was the next speaker to address the CEA conference delegates. Stephen’s presentation was particularly inspiring – he explained about a pilot scheme that is currently underway within the automotive sector called the ‘Automotive Apprenticeship Matching Service’.
The pilot scheme aims to attract and place 1,000+ apprenticeships per year at level 3. It will operate by working with high calibre surplus applicants to major OEMs and matching them with apprenticeship opportunities identified across the automotive sector. In layman’s terms this basically means ‘sharing and placing’ suitable but unsuccessful apprentice applicants – a clearing house for apprentices! Delegates were all left wondering why this had not been thought of before and how this scheme could be adopted within construction equipment sector.
David Phillips managing director, Off-Highway Research provided a valuable insight into the World’s Construction Equipment Market. Of particular note was China’s rapid decline and the country’s vast over-stock of construction equipment over the last five years – in fact 75% over capacity! David also predicted that India is looking at a bright future with a steadying government and confidence returning.
The global sales value of construction equipment in 2014 equated to $93.3 billion this is predicted to fall to $84 billion in 2015.
Next up was Richard Clement, planning manager Komatsu UK who introduced to the delegates Komatsu’s Intelligent Machine Range which comprise three dozers and one excavator which is manufactured in the UK.
Richard explained how ‘Intelligent’ machine control could save valuable time and money on jobsites whilst taking the pressure off the operator. The machines are incredibly accurate and can be operated by ‘less skilled’ operators.
There are safety advantages too in using intelligent machine control – surveyors do not need to be around the machine. No special arrangements need to be made for deep trenches and working hours are extended as reduced visibility does not impede the operation of the machine.
Dick Elsy chief executive of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing government-backed apprentice scheme Catapult talked about how Catapults are bridging the gap between business and academia, helping to turn great ideas into reality, by providing access to world-class research and development facilities and expertise that would otherwise be out of reach for many businesses in the UK.
Rapid progress has been made by Innovate UK in creating the Catapult network. Dick explained Catapult’s responsibility to utilise high-quality research and development facilities, in tandem with the construction industry, to turn ideas into commercial applications.
Nick Boles MP Minister of State for Skills and Construction spoke mainly about the Government’s commitment to apprenticeships. Nick Boles told delegate that today’s apprentices are tomorrow’s business leaders so it is right we invest in securing their futures. By developing the skills of young people, businesses can boost their productivity and employees can harness their talent.
Large employers will be ‘taxed’ to fund the government’s targets of 3 million apprenticeships. The Apprenticeship levy is designed to level the playing field so every big company plays their part in delivering new generation of skilled apprentices and industry-led training standards to meet their needs. Nick also said that the Government is working closely with CITB.
Bill Quigley, head of Excavated & Bulk Materials HS2 Infrastructure Directorate updated delegates on the HS2 project. With a £42billion budget delegates were keen to hear of the plant requirements for the project which spans 230km in length.
For phase one of the project is it estimated that 372 excavators will be required alongside, 124 dozers, 93 rollers, 302 dumpers, 636 ADT’s, 87 mobile cranes, 58 all-terrain cranes and 58 piling equipment sets.
Of the 230km, there will be 46km’s of tunnels and 128mt’s of excavated material, of which, 90% will be reused. Transport modes for excavated material will be by rail (9%), Public Highway (24%) and by site haul (67%).
Paul Hardwick head of business development at Calor Gas spoke about the future of fuel technology and how Calor Gas could be introduced into Construction Equipment – a number of Forklft Truck manufacturers already manufacture LPG run Forklift machines – in fact 30% of the UK counter balanced forklift truck market is powered by LPG.
Paul also talked about the air pollution crisis in the UK London where diesel road traffic is responsible for 40% NOx emissions and non-road mobile machinery accounts for 14%. LPG delivers less NO2 than petrol and 80% less than diesel.
Nigel Baseley president of the CEA and chair of the CEA Skills Advisory Panel introduced the latest CEA initiative – the CEA Skills Portal Toolkit – where companies can find advice on apprenticeship, funding, upskilling and outsourcing. Nigel also introduced the SEMTA Apprenticeship Service – A one stop employer solution for recruiting, developing and mentoring talented apprentices. Full details can be found on the CEA Website https://thecea.org.uk/skills/ .
Primary Engineer CEO Susan Scurlock joined Nigel Baseley on the CEA conference stage to accept a cheque from CEA for £2000 to help fund projects undertaken by the Primary Engineer organisation. Primary Engineer is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2005 by Susan Scurlock – its aim is to encourage young people to consider careers in STEM related professions. Susan believes that Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are key subjects in securing positive opportunities and career paths for future generations, and that this begins in Primary school. Susan also supported the Plantworx Construction Exhibition ‘Student Day’ Initiative and has big plans for the 2017 event – watch this space.
A full report on the CEA Annual Conference 2015 will be in the next issue of the CEA’s Construction WorX magazine coming soon. To subscribe for free contact Molly Stirling at molly.stirling@admin.co.uk
The Presentations from the speakers are available to download – click here https://thecea.org.uk/conference/
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