The Latest News From Bovey Construction Ltd

September 2003

SMALL BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE ON GROWTH

Inward investment has always been seen as the key to growth and employment in the Westcountry. But, according to Neil Turner, managing director of Bovey Construction in Caton, Ashburton, that could be a fallacy. Far better, he thinks, to invest in the businesses we have and, particularly, to invest in training.

Neil should know. Set up as a family firm in 1988, Bovey Builders as it then was, had a skilled, but tiny workforce: Neil’s father, Neil himself, his brother and his wife, Jane. By 1998, the team had expanded to 10 staff without diluting the skills they started with. But they now wanted further expansion and challenges, while keeping the personal touch, which defines small businesses.

Between August, 2000 and 2003, working with a Business Link adviser, Bovey Builders did just that, trebling both turnover and staff. Now, as Bovey Construction, it works on contracts from £25,000 up to £1m. All these make great demands in terms of the traditional craft skills, which, according to Neil, we are in danger of losing.

“The average age of the skilled craftsman in the South West is getting higher as the working population is ageing. With more people leaving the industry than joining it, the skills shortage is set to continue. For us and other small businesses, this is the most serious challenge we are facing, particularly as demand is high.”

Neil believes that it is vital that the older generation shares its knowledge and experience with new entrants who are willing to train and wanting to develop the traditional skills that house-owners and developers in the South West, with its high proportion of traditional and designer-built buildings, want.
But enthusiasm for training does not come out of nothing. “Our goal is to have a fully qualified workforce, which is why, at any one time, over 30 per cent of our site team are actively training, either acquiring new craft skills or increasing existing ones.”

And that includes Neil. An incorporated member of the Chartered Institute of Building, he is working towards an NVQ 5 in contract management. At the other end of the spectrum, everyone who joins the company, whether 16 or 55, has the chance to learn new skills or develop existing ones at no cost to themselves.

Twenty-three-year-old Oliver Sandford from Paignton, for example, joined the firm last winter as an all-rounder without specific construction skills. Because of his interest in carpentry, he is now working towards an NVQ 2 at South Devon College on what the Construction Industry Training Board calls an adult upskilling course.

“This means greater career prospects for Oliver and job security,” said Neil, “which is what we want. But it is also the only way we can guarantee that high-quality craftsman-built construction – beautiful, functional buildings, both traditional and modern – continues in the South West.”