Comment from 300 North given to TwinFM for their recent article: Heat and Buildings Strategy – Experts Reveal How to Tackle the Skills Shortage. For further information on the government strategy and the skills shortage, please visit their site.

The government’s new Heat and Buildings Strategy is highly reliant upon the installation of heat pumps to replace the traditional natural gas boiler found in most UK buildings. To reach the current net zero targets there should be 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028, requiring an estimated workforce of 12,000+ trained heat pump installers.

In the strategy the government identifies the need for engaging with further education (FE) and industry bodies to create ambitious training and reskilling plans including new and updated qualifications in F-Gas and SRAC. The CITB reiterates the need for industry bodies to work alongside FE institutions to design courses and qualifications that identify and meet the needs of the sector long term, including maintenance work and upskilling as heat pumps evolve.

Critically, this growth in the sector is an opportunity for companies to diversify their workforce by bringing in people from underrepresented groups which will attract these companies to young people entering the workforce now and in the future. Additionally, companies who support the training and development of their current employees will benefit from employee retention, not to mention that “existing heating engineers can be upskilled to install heat pumps in one week or less”. Tackling this skills shortage will require a whole of sector approach, as well as pushing the government to keep to their long term targets in order to create a lasting solution. 

300 North are the Facilities Management recruitment specialists providing permanent, temporary and interim solutions to the UK Facilities Management, Mechanical & Electrical and Construction sectors. Get in touch to find out how we can help you with your recruitment needs by visiting our website home page or calling us on 0113 336 5161.

What is Company Branding?

Standing out to candidates is all about ensuring that your company is visible among many others when someone outside of the business or the FM sector is looking for a new role.

The instability of the last year has caused many candidates to stay in their roles or move during the pandemic, causing an industry wide candidate shortage. As things reopen, FM companies are greatly increasing hiring leading to a candidate driven market, where the number of job openings vastly outnumber the available talent. This has meant organisations are having to market themselves in order to be considered by prospective talent. Candidates are looking for many things from their next employer, including a more democratic approach to procurement.

The Invisible Group

International Pride month has just passed. It’s a time when people talk about and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. This June we talked to LGBTQIA+ people about their experiences and did some research into the challenges LGBTQIA+ people face in the workplace, and how FM organisations are creating more safe and diverse spaces for them to thrive at work.

This month our CEO Paul Connolly was interviewed by the charity Mindful Employer Leeds to allow them to gain insight into how one small business has prioritised staff wellbeing during the pandemic. As a Mindful Employer, it is really important to us to be able to share our knowledge and promote healthy work practices we use to assist other companies in supporting their staff. To find out how we have kept up team morale and ensured everybody’s safety over the past 14 months, please read on.

The UK government has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050. Made in 2019, it was the first legally binding net zero carbon pledge for a major global economy. In order to achieve the status carbon neutral, the UK has now put forward a series of funding options to assist in the effort to reach this pledged target of 2050. Included in this is the £213 million investment in seven of the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) research councils which will allow them to provide sustainable energy infrastructure upgrades, research carbon neutral technologies and regenerate older spaces. There is also £170 million of funding for the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, which is looking for carbon neutral technologies and infrastructure solutions that will create a large scale reduction of carbon emissions in a way that can be reproduced efficiently across the UK, and the world.

If you’re looking to brighten up your home office while also enjoying a boost to your mood and productivity, adding some greenery to the mix is a great place to start. Jenny in the 300 North team has been something of a plant connoisseur for a while now, and working from home has given her the perfect opportunity to bring that passion into her new work environment.

At 300North we specialise in Facilities Management, Construction and Property Recruitment. We pride ourselves on being able to deliver quality candidates to companies across the industry regardless of the challenges we all collectively face. This year has been particularly challenging, but we have continued to support the needs of the market and have maintained our people focused approach to recruiting. The FM sector has had a vital role to play during the pandemic and thus a continued need to recruit both temporary and permanent staff. We have seen a noticeable increase in clients looking for short term temporary staff to cover employees having to isolate for two weeks, particularly across the healthcare sector; and given it’s currently a busy time for FM post a second national lockdown and with businesses and workplaces continuing to reopen, this has led to some tight turnarounds for our team who have risen to the challenge!