Why the focus on Hard Hats? Asks Mark Farmer

Author: Anna Hern Ridgemount

Focusing on the urgent need to attract new talent into the construction industry, Mark Farmer questioned an obsession with hard hats, middle aged men and uninspiring communications programmes in the Chartered Institute of Marketing Construction Industry Group discussion about image.

In a wide-ranging talk, the author of the discomforting Modernise or Die report into the state of the construction industry emphasised the increasing speed of change within the sector since the publication of the report two years ago.

While the industry and the regulators are starting to embrace technology-driven solutions, however, the image portrayed by the sector remains relentlessly behind the times, which is holding it back in terms of inspiring the next generation.

“We have a great opportunity to get strategic about how we promote our image. How are we going to win the war for talent? It has to be about outreach at a different level. If we’re talking to 16 or 17-year-olds it’s too late. This has to start early and it has to be about inspiration.”

“To be disingenuous, we want to project what is realistically the cutting edge of our industry as being representative. We have to be ahead of the curve. By the time these kids get on site this will be the norm.

“In the latest Open Doors campaign I saw a bunch of schoolchildren on a building site with a cut-out of a sort of life-sized Bob the Builder. Hard hat, tool belt etc. That is the image we are projecting to schoolchildren. Why do we always seem to focus on that end of the industry?”

Farmer went on to speculate whether the term “construction industry” was itself outdated. If we focus on the “why” rather than the “how” then talking about the “built environment” is a far more inclusive term to represent the diverse range of design, engineering and management skills behind the creation of our living spaces.

Talking to a room full of marketers, Farmer made a plea for better co-ordination, asking for more collaboration to reflect the increasingly high-tech nature of the industry and the solutions it presents to global issues such as climate change and living standards.

This plea was echoed in the panel discussion that followed. Sadie Morgan of dRMM recommended, “show what your ambition is, not what the norm is.”

Mark Reynolds, Chief Executive of Mace Group reflected on the massive impact that work experience opportunities can make on the recruitment challenge.

Sam Stacey of Transforming construction emphasised the potential for rapid change in building methods while Jade Lewis of St Gobain Group was keen to draw attention to the degree of innovation already under way.

A lively question and answer session concluded the event which closed with a call for every company in the room to engage with at least one outreach activity to schools within the next year and for CIMCIG to co-ordinate a programme to help this happen. Now.