Building up skills

The Scottish Building Federation highlights the skills challenge facing the construction sector (“Our housing industry is back on solid ground”, Friends of The Scotsman, 18 September) and the need to work harder to highlight the career opportunities on offer.

We agree, and the home 
building industry is already addressing this issue which it has long emphasised as a key barrier to recovery.

This is best demonstrated by the “Get into Home Building” initiative it has been driving forward with The Prince’s Trust and which only last month saw a number of unemployed young people graduate from the pilot programme and immediately secure jobs or apprenticeships.

Such initiatives are essential if we are to attract the young entrants and develop the skills our industry needs in order to deliver the many thousands of homes of all tenures that Scotland requires.

Philip Hogg

Homes for Scotland

Edinburgh