Callum Mackintosh, director at Hi-skills, tells Project Scotland why the nation needs a Centre of Excellence for Skills, Safety and Innovation – and why the Highlands is the place for it
The north of Scotland has always been a place where ambition and resilience go hand in hand. The region has carried more than its share of the heavy lifting for Scotland’s economy. Yet as we stand on the cusp of a £100 billion wave of projects across the Highlands and Islands, without a serious and coordinated effort to develop skills, this opportunity will be missed.
That is why Highlands and Islands Skills (Hi-skills) is driving forward the creation of a Centre of Excellence for Skills, Safety and Innovation to respond to the skills challenge Scotland has faced for decades.
The skills gap in construction, civil engineering, utilities and renewable energy is at crisis point. Employers cannot find enough trained people, and this is compounded by the fact that specialist roles in civils, construction and renewables are not attracting sufficient volumes of new entrants.
Scotland cannot grow the energy transmission network without trained OHL operatives. Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) projects will stall without tunnelling skills. Large-scale road, rail and energy projects will fail without plant and crane operators, steel fixers, form workers, scaffolders and rope access technicians. These skillsets are the very backbone of the £100 billion pipeline of projects.
Meanwhile, young people leave the Highlands and Islands because they do not see viable career opportunities at home. Existing training facilities are concentrated in the Central Belt or further south, with specialist apprenticeship courses delivered in Newark, Derby and Kings Lynn. For many, the cost, travel and time away from home become insurmountable barriers to following a career path in construction, engineering or energy.
This is unsustainable. Projects risk delay, productivity will falter, and local communities will see investment pass them by while their populations diminish. At the same time, health and safety standards must keep pace with new technologies, and the international workforce needed to co-deliver these projects must be upskilled and certified to UK standards.
Our planned Centre of Excellence answers these challenges directly. It will:
• Anchor skills in the region thereby retaining young people with sustainable career prospects.
• Equip employers with the trained workforce required to deliver transformational projects.
• Train and upskill thousands of infrastructure workers every year.
• Support innovation by offering space for businesses to test, demonstrate and showcase emerging technologies.
• Secure guaranteed interviews for genuine job opportunities and pathways into long-term employment.
• Raise standards nationally by making the facility a recognised centre of expertise in sector skills.
This long-term vision will build confidence, attract inward investment and demonstrate that Scotland can deliver projects on time, to the highest standards and with clear benefits for its people.
The timing could not be more critical. Major energy, transport and infrastructure projects are already underway with some 250 more to come. Developers and contractors are making decisions now about where to locate activity, who to employ and where to source that workforce. This also impacts where the economic benefits will land. Given the competition for skilled workers across the UK, if Scotland does not act quickly, the chance to build long-term regional capacity will be lost.
Government and public agencies are also signalling that collaboration with the private sector is essential, and that public sector investment will flow where there is solid leadership, alignment with national and regional priorities, community benefit, sector collaboration and clear delivery plans.
Hi-skills has done the groundwork, secured broad industry, political and community support, and is ready to move. Any delay risks losing both momentum and the confidence of industry.
Creating a Scottish Centre of Excellence for Skills, Safety and Innovation right in the beating heart of £100 billion worth of projects is an absolute necessity. It will be a resource for employers, a pathway for young people and a statement that Scotland and the Highlands and Islands in particular intends to lead, not follow, in the next era of infrastructure delivery.
This is a now-or-never moment. The choice is simple: invest in people, skills and safety today, or regret not doing so in the future.
