Constructing a New Career

Since being established four years ago, a construction and retrofitting course in Dublin Port has helped over 200 long-term unemployed people secure jobs.

A construction and retrofitting course in Dublin Port recently celebrated its fourth anniversary of helping the long-term unemployed to find employment in the construction industry.

The East Docklands Local Employment Service Construction Skills and Retrofitting programme in Dublin Port, run by St Andrew’s Resource Centre, is focused on helping participants to upskill quickly, by completing the three-week courses, and to then find suitable employment.

November 2021 saw Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, presenting the certificates to the latest graduates of the course.

“As we aim to become Carbon Neutral by 2030, retrofitting has become a key skill for access to many residential and commercial projects,” noted Minister Harris. “The aim of the programme is to break down barriers between unemployed and employers. I fully believe that the work that happens here is a crucial step towards introducing these learners back into the jobs.”

Minister Harris thanked the St Andrew’s Resource Centre, Dublin Port, the Department of Social Protection (DSP), Skillnet Ireland, Dublin City Council, North East Inner City Taskforce and the Inner City Renewal Group for their “tireless work on this project, and without whom we would not have been here today to mark this special occasion.”

Minister Harris wasn’t the only special guest at the recent Graduation, which was also attended by the course’s very first graduate. Thomas Grimes is still working, four years on, following his initial placement with Alucraft. In fact, the week of the graduations saw the course celebrate its 200th job placement. By the end of 2021, the three-week construction course, which recently added ‘Green Home’ retrofitting modules in conjunction with Skillnet Ireland, had trained more than 347 people, 212 of whom have gone on to secure jobs in the industry.

Constantly Evolving to Meet Employers' Needs

“The success of the project is that it is constantly evolving to ensure it meets local employers’ needs,” explained Jim Hargis, Employment Services Manager at St Andrews Resource Centre. “Not only is it a successful, low-cost solution that fulfils the need of taking people off the live register, it puts them into sustainable well-paid jobs in a sector that is crying out for workers.

“Furthermore, it now ensures that they have up-to-date retrofitting skills that contribute to the green economy.

We are extremely proud that the project has built up an excellent reputation with employers in the sector and is now seen as a reliable source of trained labour,” he added.

Broad Range of Qualifications

The intensive course is delivered over a three-week period and equips participants, with a broad range of qualifications and experience, to work on construction sites. It incorporates two strands: a Construction Skills Certificate and a Green Homes (Retrofitting) Certificate.

Both strands incorporate a placement process and work individually with each candidate to gain employment in the construction sector. The goal of the programme is to start 60% of trainees in employment in the construction sector, with the majority of trainees starting work within four weeks of completing the course. Some of the companies that hired graduates from the programme include John Sisk & Son, Careys Building & Civil Engineering, Walls Construction, Alufix and Clarke Concrete.

The curriculum is tailored to individual needs and capabilities. The range of modules includes:

• Covid-19 Awareness

• Infection Prevention and Control

• Mental Health and Wellbeing

• Safe Pass

• Manual Handling

• Abrasive Wheels

• Working at Heights

• First Aid

• Vehicle Banksman

• Mobile Elevating Work Platform Training

• Drilling

• Insulation Installation

• Construction/Finishing Skills

“As employment demand in the sector evolves, so too does the skillset we offer our trainees,” explained Jim. “They graduate on a Friday with their training and equipment fully ready to start work the following week and it has been a life changing experience for many of them.”

Programme History

The origins of the programme came from a joint initiative between DSP, Eastside Docklands LES and DCC when there was a requirement to provide local labour to work on the incinerator site in Ringsend in 2016. St Andrews was asked for its assistance in finding a way to deliver local workers onto that site.

On foot of this, a developing labour shortage in the construction industry was identified locally in the context of large-scale development in the Docklands area. Eastside and Docklands Local Employment Service (LES), which is funded by the DSP, recognised an opportunity for long term unemployed people to benefit from increased employment in the construction sector. They identified a skills gap among long-term unemployed people precluding them from taking up employment in this rising sector and developed a pilot programme in response.

The project initially received support from Dublin Docklands and Dublin City Council. Eastside and Docklands LES approached the Department for funding to support continuation of the training course under the Activation and Family Support Programme.

The Government provided €250,755 in funding to the project during 2021, which allowed for the successful piloting of a retrofitting skills course as an additional strand of provision.

“After each course we review our outcomes and benchmark against our KPI of a 50% job start rate,” Jim reveals.

The impact of Covid-19 made 2021 a difficult year, as Jim explains: “We restarted the project in May and made the decision to undertake all training in the open air. This required some capital investment but broadly worked well.”

In 2021, essentially from a standing start, they completed 13 courses, trained 106 men and placed 65 of them in jobs, a 61% placement rate.

Referral agencies include almost all LES’s and Intreo offices in the Dublin region, the probation and welfare services homeless agencies and self-referrals. In 2021, approximately 68% of candidates came from the north and south inner city.

“We have been delighted with the progress of the project this year and sound foundations have been laid for the project in 2022 in both the Construction and the Retrofitting skills areas,” Jim concludes.