A massive advertising campaign has been launched to entice 40,000 young people across the South East to join the construction industry.

ConstructionSkills, the skills council for the construction industry, has spent £1 million on television adverts as part of a one-year recruitment drive.

The ads emphasise the role young women can play in the building trade, following claims from teenagers that out-dated careers advice was letting them down.

They will show youngsters how they can "make their mark" in the industry by highlighting iconic buildings like the GLA in London and the "armadillo" SECC buiding in Glasgow.

The 2012 Olympic Games has guaranteed a construction boom in East London over the next ten years - but could heap pressure on building projects outside the capital.

There is approximately £2 billion-worth of building work in the pipeline for Brighton and Hove over the next decade but a shortage of skilled workers to see it through.

There are fears the Olympics will soak up much of the labour available.

Getting more women into the industry could help solve the problem.

ConstructionSkills research has found that young women feel let down by the careers advice they receive, saying that they are being put off traditionally male dominated industries.

Over two thirds of the 2,400 11 to 18-year-old girls questioned said that they felt there was a gender bias, despite the girls themselves being keen to break gender stereotypes.

Paul Sykes, recruitment manager for ConstructionSkills said: "There are job opportunities for almost 40,000 new construction recruits in the South East in the next three years to work on major projects including Pinewood Studios, a hotel, leisure and retail complex in Brighton, a retail development in Newbury and redevelopment works in Portsmouth and High Wycombe town centres.

Our evidence shows that young women want to work in our industry - applications are up, numbers applying to university and vocational courses are up - but that careers advice is not in step with the modern industry or the aspirations of young women themselves.

"As an industry, we are taking the step of getting directly to young women to show them the range of amazing jobs on offer. And we would encourage advisers to rethink their attitude to careers in construction."

Wednesday, April 11, 2006