Building a Better Britain with our CEO, Neil Armstrong

Episode 1: The Skills Gap

At the start of 2026, over 1 million people aged 16-24 were unemployed, not in education or training (NEET). That’s 13.5% of that demographic. This is the first time it’s surpassed a million since 2013.

Ironically, across Construction we’re seeing a huge skills gap, right at the moment in time when our infrastructure desperately needs upgrading.

The need for stronger networks for water is ever-present, the grid is failing to meet up with demand, and our country is demanding better connectivity across all services. These are just a handle of the upgrades to our critical infrastructure that we need to act on now.

We are seeing an aging workforce across all these critical roles and a need to inspire our future one.

I ask myself, “what kind of country do we want to be when it comes to work, skills and opportunity?” I think back to the 70s and 80s, even 90s to a degree, where there was great pride in having a trade. Unfortunately, what’s happened in that intervening period is we’ve lost some great skills. Welding, carpentry, stonework… you think of some of the wonderful stuff we built post-war in the 50s, the great craftmanship that took place to rebuild Britain.

What we’ve seen today is a lot of young people following a degree route, coming out at the end of it with piles of debt and limited possibilities.

With the insurgence of AI, a lot of careers are now at risk, and many graduates can be seen working in cafes, bars or waiting around for the right job. I think a lot of those people would have chosen a different path looking back on it now.

We are rebuilding Britain now. We are not at the forefront for Europe or even in contrast to some emerging economies around the world.

It’s never too late, but it is getting late in the day.

We can see now that our government, our policy makers are all realising this.

I think we’ll see a shift in what a critical role is – carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers – we need more tradespeople. We need more pipe layers. I think we’ll see people of all ages retraining into blue collar roles.

Necessity is, after all, the mother of all invention.

We need government support. Pathways. Funding. We can save on our welfare costs by getting these people back into work. If you leave it to industry alone, it’ll happen but at a much slower pace. Time isn’t on our side.

If we want to speed this up, we need everybody with their hands on the pump. Government, industry, asset owners, supply chain. Everyone needs to lean in and play their part.

An apprenticeship can change the trajectory of a young person’s life.

Seeing them come through our doors, often with imposter syndrome and then seeing them one or two years later… it’s an amazing feeling. They’re given a sense of responsibility, a practical tool kit, they’re accountable for something – something important.

Isn’t the ultimate human desire to feel like you have purpose? To feel like you’re contributing to something? I think when people feel like that it’s great for society. We need these individuals in our sector. This is important, meaningful work.

What I’ve found over time as a leader is how invaluable those earn-and-learn brains are – arguably more so than those with degrees. Personally, I think it’s a better education. More practical, more people-facing, getting into tough spots and learning how to get through them.

We’ve had these individuals in our business since day 1, we now have 7% of our business in these early career roles.

I genuinely believe with the state of our critical infrastructure now, I can see 20 years’ worth of work. Isn’t that the sort of message we want to give to our young people? A secure pipeline of work that is meaningful to the societies they live in?

I’ve worked in this industry for 35 years. We’ve never, until this moment, seen demand outstrip resource. What better sector to get into? Your skills will be in demand for years to come.

The time to act is now.