Recently I was delighted to visit the Aldershot Construction College to unveil their ‘Half House’.
No, it’s not a result of the latest housing cutbacks! It is, in fact, a state-of-the art teaching and learning facility which exemplifies the College’s determination to offer top-quality qualifications and learning to young people in the building industry’s cutting-edge technologies.
Essentially the Half House is a two-storey modular building with a cut away section showing how the walls and roofs are built up and the way in which mechanical, electrical and plumbing services – including renewable services – are installed. It allows students to get hands-on experience of dealing with sustainable building materials and demonstrates a technique that is revolutionising the construction industry known as Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).
MMC has been trialled successfully by many of the major house-builders, and the techniques are also increasingly used in construction of schools, health centres and other infrastructure.
It is increasingly the key to building top quality new homes and services rapidly. Many of the components of the new buildings are built or assembled off-site, reducing the impact of poor weather on the speed with which they are completed and improving conditions for the workforce at the same time. More importantly, it supports higher standards and increased supervision, meaning better quality and better value for money.
With the new Labour government increasing investment significantly in house and infrastructure building, MMC will be one of the ways we use to reach our ambitious targets.
But this will only be possible if we have a skilled workforce to deliver, and many years of underinvestment means that this is not guaranteed. The previous administration relied on importing the workforce from abroad to plug the gap.
This is why we are so lucky to have the Farnborough College of Technology, including the Aldershot Construction College, in our area.
The students I met were excited and keen to learn and they were looking forward to working in an innovative and stimulating industry.
The good news is that, thanks to Labour’s increasing investment, and the recent announcements on increased defence expenditure, they can look forward to not just a well-paid job, but a long-lasting career.
