SINGAPORE - Mid-career workers who plan to switch to the built environment sector will be able to tap new training programmes and courses to help them make the transition.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) on Thursday said its academy will roll out new train-and-place programmes as well as courses under the SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme.
These initiatives will complement existing career conversion programmes that already support mid-career workers in the built environment sector, the BCA said.
BCA also announced that SkillsFuture Singapore will be appointing the BCA Academy as the Continuing Education and Training (CET) centre for the sector, which includes construction and facilities management.
CET centres provide a comprehensive range of courses and training for adults, as well as services like career advice and job placements. The BCA Academy will have to monitor its trainees’ training and placement activities.
BCA said the academy will launch new courses in areas such as robotics and automation as well as smart and integrated facilities management, to equip workers with skills that are in demand.
A built environment industry transformation blueprint launched in September 2022 had outlined how the sector should adopt various digital technologies and new methods to improve productivity, including prefabrication.
On Thursday, BCA said the academy will prioritise training in areas such as digitalisation and data to “enable the key transformation areas” set out in the industry transformation map.
The academy will also curate programmes to support leadership development, and channel more resources to help companies defray training costs, it added.
In a speech at the BuildSG Lead Summit held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre on Thursday, National Development Minister Desmond Lee highlighted a study that the BCA conducted with consulting firm Ernst & Young Advisory, which sets out recommendations and lists resources that firms and workers in the sector can use to better prepare for changes ahead.
“For instance, the report describes how specific job roles may change, and the skills that are needed for our workers to transition between job roles. Our firms can use this to chart out plans to prepare a future-ready workforce. Our workers can also use this information to steer their careers,” he said.
BCA and Ernst & Young Advisory had engaged close to 130 organisations across the built environment sector to outline jobs and skill trends in a recent study.
The study also included a global benchmarking exercise of 10 other cities including Hong Kong, London, Tokyo and New York.
It made five recommendations to address challenges faced by the built environment sector, such as the difficulty in attracting and retaining new talent, and slow adoption of technology.
The study said the sector should accelerate the adoption of technology, to improve productivity and develop a skilled local workforce.
Among other recommendations, it also said companies, the Government, unions and trade associations have to work together to improve human resources practices and their value proposition to employees, to eventually increase the overall attractiveness of the sector.
