{"id":76650,"date":"2016-11-30T14:13:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T14:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=a91c15ee3b82c9ceaffbec4aad1f78c9"},"modified":"2016-11-30T14:13:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T14:13:23","slug":"speech-investment-in-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=76650","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Investment in transport"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>It\u2019s a pleasure to join you for today\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n<p>The numbers here, and the sheer range of companies represented, demonstrate how far the Association has come since 1996.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past 2 decades, you have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>brought the civil engineering sector together<\/li>\n<li>spread knowledge and best practice<\/li>\n<li>promoted innovation<\/li>\n<li>and spoken on behalf of Britain\u2019s civil engineering contractors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your members are the people turning the government\u2019s policies into concrete realities \u2013 literally.<\/p>\n<p>So I offer my congratulations on the Association\u2019s first 2 decades.<\/p>\n<p>Yet today I want to talk not about the past, but about the future.<\/p>\n<p>And about how we will make a success of the next 20 years for civil engineering in the <abbr title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>And as we look ahead, we have great reasons for confidence.<\/p>\n<p>You know how much time and money the government\u2019s putting into Britain\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Not only transport, but also:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>flood defences<\/li>\n<li>energy<\/li>\n<li>the Thames Tideway tunnel<\/li>\n<li>housing<\/li>\n<li>superfast broadband<\/li>\n<li>and new prisons, schools and hospitals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Altogether we\u2019ve got over 600 different projects on our books \u2013 in planning or in construction \u2013 in all parts of the <abbr title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s some incredible civil engineering being done on those projects, much of it by people in this room.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/english-regions-to-benefit-from-transport-investment-worth-3-billion\">I was out yesterday seeing one of those projects, the A14<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the very biggest projects on the list are in transport.<\/p>\n<p>On our existing railways, we\u2019re spending over \u00a338 billion on maintenance and enhancements.<\/p>\n<p>We are building new stations and refurbishing old ones.<\/p>\n<p>We are improving journeys by upgrading hundreds of miles of track.<\/p>\n<p>We are bringing thousands of new train carriages into service.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re nearly at the end of the \u00a315 billion <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.crossrail.co.uk\/\">Crossrail<\/a> project \u2013 on time and on budget.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been the largest construction project in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Yet next year that title will be inherited by another <abbr title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/abbr> project: <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks ago I announced the route that <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> will take to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/hs2-route-to-the-east-midlands-leeds-and-manchester-set-out-by-the-government\">North<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And we start building the first phase from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/high-speed-rail-london-west-midlands-bill\">London to Birmingham<\/a> just next year.<\/p>\n<p>On our roads, \u00a315 billion of investment is underway.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re resurfacing 80% of the existing network and building 1,300 new lane miles.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s the huge number of projects underway.<\/p>\n<p>The ports at Felixstowe, London Gateway and Liverpool have received hundreds of millions of pounds of improvements so they can once again take the world\u2019s biggest ships.<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, our air links are about to be transformed.<\/p>\n<p>We have given the green light to new taxiways at City Airport.<\/p>\n<p>And Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh airports have been spending a billion pounds each on improvements for passengers.<\/p>\n<p>And yes, we\u2019ve given long-overdue support to a third runway at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/heathrow-airport-expansion\">Heathrow Airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>All these projects are vital for the connectivity of our country.<\/p>\n<p>To boost capacity, and raise productivity.<\/p>\n<p>Yet 5 months ago, the government\u2019s commitment to infrastructure was given new impetus by a further great reason for confidence: our vote for Brexit.<\/p>\n<p>Some commentators speculated that, following the vote, our commitment to infrastructure spending would waver.<\/p>\n<p>Well, they could not have been more wrong.<\/p>\n<p>One of my first actions in this job was to confirm my support for <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>Now is our opportunity to show that we are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a country that takes the big decisions<\/li>\n<li>a country building new links with the world<\/li>\n<li>a country that is open for business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And for the civil engineering profession, this is a great opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>It means a steady stream of ground-breaking, pioneering work for decades to come.<\/p>\n<p>So, yes, there are great reasons for confidence.<\/p>\n<p>But there are also challenges.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re attempting to achieve something in transport on a scale unseen in living memory.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we\u2019ve built new roads before.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve built new runways.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019ve built new railways.<\/p>\n<p>But we have not since Victorian times attempted projects on this scale.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not that our engineers need more skills.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, we need more skilled engineers.<\/p>\n<p>Look ahead to 2020.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the year that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/road-investment-strategy\">road investment<\/a> hits peak construction.<\/p>\n<p>By then, we\u2019ll need an extra 15,000 road-building professionals of all kinds, including thousands of new engineers.<\/p>\n<p>Also in 2020, Transport for London hits a peak construction phase, thanks to projects such as Bank station upgrade and the Northern Line extension.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Transport for London\">TfL<\/abbr> will need a further 8,000 construction professionals, including thousands more engineers.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<p>When does Phase One hit peak construction?<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>By then the project will need an extra 27,000 construction professionals, including over 8,000 engineers.<\/p>\n<p>In total, we think to get all this work done, we\u2019ll need an extra 56,000 skilled workers.<\/p>\n<p>And the demand won\u2019t fall once we get past 2020.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s also the year we begin our second <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/road-investment-strategy-post-2020\">Road Investment Strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019ll be preparing for the start of construction for <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> Phase 2 \u2013 the two lines to the North, a far bigger project than Phase 1.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019ll be pressing ahead with plans for <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/crossrail2.co.uk\/\">Crossrail 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And we should expect Heathrow\u2019s 3rd runway to start construction around 2022.<\/p>\n<p>This shortage we\u2019re facing is one compounded by demography.<\/p>\n<p>Swathes of the rail industry, for example, are set to lose half their staff to retirement within 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>But this isn\u2019t just about age.<\/p>\n<p>I would to see more women engineers.<\/p>\n<p>And more black and minority ethnic engineers.<\/p>\n<p>Fewer than 1 in 10 engineers in our country are women.<\/p>\n<p>And just 4% are from ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n<p>Yet look at the other professions, such as law, or medicine, the situation is very different indeed.<\/p>\n<p>If we\u2019re going to solve the skills shortage, we need that kind of parity in engineering, too.<\/p>\n<p>And let me clear.<\/p>\n<p>We are going to solve the skills shortage.<\/p>\n<p>Given the importance of the task, we can\u2019t afford not to.<\/p>\n<p>So I have a straightforward message for all the companies operating in this field today.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to win contracts in transport.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to be part of the government\u2019s investment programme.<\/p>\n<p>You must prepare to leave a skills footprint in this country.<\/p>\n<p>We want to see that you\u2019re thinking about the future of the industry.<\/p>\n<p>We want to see that by the end of the contract, your company will have greater depth in skills than at the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>That means investing in training.<\/p>\n<p>It means hiring more apprentices.<\/p>\n<p>It means hiring from a wider pool of talent.<\/p>\n<p>And it means we\u2019re setting some minimum standards.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year we published our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/transport-infrastructure-skills-strategy-building-sustainable-skills\">Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s our plan to get an extra 30,000 more apprentices into transport, and to raise the number of women working in transport so it has parity with the level working in the economy as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>Firms bidding for transport contracts must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>either hire and train one apprentice for every \u00a33-to-\u00a35 million of the contract\u2019s value\u2026<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>or, for every 200 people employed under the contract, create 5 apprenticeships for each year of the project<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every apprentice employed on a project, whether by contractor or sub-contractor, will count towards the target.<\/p>\n<p>So we expect the effects to spread throughout the industry.<\/p>\n<p>We also want more women given opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>We want women to make up at least 20% of new entrants to engineering apprenticeships.<\/p>\n<p>And we have a target of a 20% increase in the number of ethnic minority candidates winning places on apprenticeships by 2020.<\/p>\n<p>This sounds like a challenge but we\u2019re already making progress.<\/p>\n<p>I have been impressed, for example, by Heathrow\u2019s commitment to fund 10,000 apprenticeships as part of the expansion of the airport.<\/p>\n<p>And <abbr title=\"High Speed Two\">HS2<\/abbr> Ltd is building two dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/national-college-of-high-speed-rail-takes-major-step-towards-completion\">high speed rail colleges<\/a>, in Birmingham and Doncaster, whose graduates will help build this high capacity railway.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Crossrail has done a huge amount to get women working on the project.<\/p>\n<p>A third of its workforce is female.<\/p>\n<p>And I am pleased to be able to announce today that Mike Brown, Commissioner of Transport for London, has agreed to chair the government\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/strategic-transport-apprenticeship-taskforce-to-boost-apprenticeships\">Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We set up the taskforce this year to help address the skills challenge in a co-ordinated way, drawing on ideas and experience across the transport industry, and to monitor the progress we\u2019re making.<\/p>\n<p>Mike will continue to drive the collaboration that we started when we published the strategy.<\/p>\n<p>And he will hold us all to account on progress, starting by publishing an Annual Report in the spring.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome on board Mike.<\/p>\n<p>So there\u2019s lots happening<\/p>\n<p>But there is more to do.<\/p>\n<p>And if we succeed in the task of re-equipping the engineering workforce, if we get these projects done \u2013 like Crossrail \u2013 on time and on budget, we\u2019ll not only transform our economy.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll lift the prestige of British engineering the world over.<\/p>\n<p>And that, in itself, brings new opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>So many places around the globe already bear the hallmarks of British engineering.<\/p>\n<p>Railways, bridges, road systems and buildings.<\/p>\n<p>They are the visible evidence that we\u2019ve long been pioneers in exporting ideas, ingenuity and talent.<\/p>\n<p>I want that to continue \u2013 and to increase.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like to see a new wave of engineering exports \u2013 with the completed projects in this country acting as adverts for British engineering capability.<\/p>\n<p>So this is the task for our country\u2019s civil engineers.<\/p>\n<p>Not only to transform Britain\u2019s transport.<\/p>\n<p>Not only to export British engineering around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>But to transform lives.<\/p>\n<p>To inspire people to join this profession.<\/p>\n<p>To train them.<\/p>\n<p>To work with them.<\/p>\n<p>To engineer the future of our country.<\/p>\n<p>In all this, I know I can count on your support.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because that\u2019s what engineers do best.<\/p>\n<p>Face challenges, solve them, and turn them into opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>So, thank you for listening.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n<p>And thank you for everything you are doing to give Britain the infrastructure we need for the 21st Century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transport Secretary Chris Grayling on the skills and infrastructure needed to sustain transport investment in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}