Background:
We spoke with Chris Williams, Craft Training Supervisor at Lovell about how apprenticeships benefit apprentices and employers and the importance of a sustainable talent pool in construction.
About Lovell:
Lovell is a partnership housing specialist and a leading provider of innovative residential construction, regeneration and retrofit solutions. The company is over 50 years old and has a long history of providing apprenticeships and supporting progression in careers in the construction industry.
Creating a sustainable workforce:
In June 2026 the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) published its Construction Workforce Outlook 2026-30. This report underlined what many in the sector can already know: that more people are leaving the industry than are joining it.
This means there is an increasing risk of a depleted talent pool alongside a growing skills gap. And, with up to 35% of the current construction workforce likely to retire by 2030, it is evident that bringing new people into the sector as soon as possible is vital.
As Chris explained “For us, apprenticeships are an important part of workforce planning. A big part of my role is ensuring that we have enough people with the right skills and at the right level to deliver all our projects. Additionally though we do recognise that more widely there really is a need to bring people into the industry as a whole and to show young people in particular the great opportunities available to them right now, as well as what it could lead to in future. An apprenticeship can be the start of a brilliant career.”
Building opportunity:
Part of the Lovell commitment to supporting the places they work in involves supporting social impact. The company strives to deliver lasting positive social and economic impact within communities by providing local employment and offering training opportunities. In this way the provision of apprenticeships gives Lovell a route to support people in an area learn a trade and develop skills for life.
Chris added “I’m proud of our high success rate on apprenticeships and how we develop our staff. There are an increasing number of people within Lovell who stared their career with an apprenticeship in a trade, such as site carpentry, and have then gone on to become site managers and even regional directors. I think this is a great example of how an apprenticeship that brings you into construction really can open up multiple career paths and encourages professional progression in our industry."
NHBC apprenticeships and training hubs:
Site carpenters are just one of the many essential trades required to build a high-quality home. The Level 2 Site Carpentry apprenticeship with NHBC has been designed to address the shortage of skilled workers in the house-building industry by helping to train and prepare the next generation of highly proficient site carpenters.
The delivery of the apprenticeship takes place as an initial two-week intensive skills delivery at an NHBC Training Hub, after which apprentices will be ready to go on site. Apprentices then return to the training hub every five to six weeks throughout the rest of their apprenticeship.
We asked Chris how he felt apprentices benefited from their time at NHBC Training Hubs. He said “I think one of the most beneficial aspects of the training hubs has been the block sessions. This allows an apprentice to be fully immersed in what they are learning without any distractions or interruptions. Also, because they are returning to the same topic in a concentrated way, it allows the principles to really bed in, so they progress more quickly as things are fresher in their minds.”
Chris also added “Another advantage for us is that you can put apprentices on cohorts throughout the year giving us more opportunities to get people started, rather than it be in September only or you have to wait a year. This not only provides us with more flexibility to meet the needs of our own business, but it also lessens the risk of losing a young person from the home-building sector because, understandably, they can’t sit and wait around with nothing to do for 12 months.”
Making more of apprenticeships:
Apprenticeships offer an excellent way to get into construction. For many young people they are the very first step on what can be a long and rewarding career journey. We asked Chris if he felt more could or should be done to support apprenticeships in construction.
He said “Yes. For apprenticeships to be truly effective there needs to be a ‘golden thread’ through all the different touch points – government, training providers, employers and schools – so that young people know about opportunities in construction and can access a clear pathway that supports them joining the industry and helps them understand the next step at each point. We need to make sure we are talking to young people about this industry and setting them up to succeed in it. This also means there needs to be enough funding to enable the sector to train people in a way that meets the needs of all stakeholders, large and small, so I feel strongly that it must be accessible and effective for SMEs and subcontractors as well.”
