WET News

8 WET NEWS SEPTEMBER 2016 INTERVIEW " There's a limited interest in engineering," says Mark Hanrahan, group business development director at North Midland Construction (NM Group). "We go to schools saying we need engineers, we need manufacturing assembly personnel for factories but those young people are just not there. "Even so, these are the sort of people we're looking for and there's no appetite. We've got this massive demographic gap in engineering as a whole." Hanrahan is venting his frustration over the skills shortage in the water sector as he tells WET News that demand for the skillsets needed to deliver offsite build asset optimisation is likely to rise tenfold; that the dearth of engineers could cause the water companies to fail efficiency targets; and that the water sector has to become more appealing to youngsters, and virtual engineering can help. Hanrahan says that with fewer massive new builds expected as the industry is driven by efficiency challenges from regulator Ofwat, the water companies are seeking to "get extra life" from their existing assets instead. "What we're seeing now in AMP6, and more so in AMP7, is more demand for that M&E [mechanical and electrical] specialist service. Likewise, we've seen a big drive for offsite build, not just government but the water companies are committed too. We need to move more to a factory assembly." NM Group, parent to NMNomenca and Nomenca, has three factories in the UK and is seeing increased demand for skid-mounted equipment, package equipment, pre-cast blocks, inlet works, pumping stations. However, while offsite build is on the increase it has reduced significantly the amount of work done onsite. Offsite build requires different skillsets to accommodate production and assembly. "You can't just take a chippy or a brickie from site and deploy them into a factory to do pre- cast," says Hanrahan. "It's completely different. Much like when you take an electrician or a fitter who would normally work onsite doing an installation, when you bring them into a factory environment you need to give them additional skills and training for the work that you're doing there." For the past 12 years, NM Group has run an apprenticeship scheme through its academy. "About 12% of our workforce are either apprentices or under-graduates. That's a massive number – but It's not enough! If you look across the water sector, there must be thousands and thousands of job vacancies that we're struggling to fill." To try and alleviate the issue, NM Group is in discussions with Manchester Metropolitan University, IMechE [Institution of Mechanical Engineers] and other bodies, to structure degree apprenticeships in M&E engineering. This would entail taking A-Level students and bringing them into a company and rolling them through a degree apprenticeship programme. Hanrahan says: "When you look at the number of engineering degree students it's very small, and the ones that are doing a degree in engineering it's usually for aeronautical engineering rather than what we're looking for [mechanical, electrical, civil and chemical engineers] to service the water sector. "We've got this huge gap, and as an industry we need to make the water sector something where people go 'actually I can see a long-term career within that'. The water can offer all these different careers. Students studying bio-medical sciences have they considered coming into the water sector and becoming a process engineer because we use those sort of things in the treatment of potable water and wastewater?" Then there is virtual engineering, again something that NMGroup is doing to try and attract interest. Hanrahan says: "We're doing a big drive with our virtual engineer to bring people who may have gone more into the gaming side, and explaining that what we're doing. We're looking to create virtual engineering environments where you can move around a bit like Grand The¤ Auto or whatever, you can move around in that environment, manipulate data, manipulate equipment so we can optimise that build. "Straightaway you're trying to make it really interesting to young people." Attending careers fairs, Hanrahan says the first thing NM Group does is to immerse the students by taking them to a site in a virtual engineering environment and enabling them to walk around it. "We tell them this is what they can be involved in. They're amazed, they're blown away. These are things the likes of NASA do – 'come to Mars, you can have a walk around Mars'," he says laughing. "Seriously, though, it's about making it appeal to youngsters by using state-of-the-art technology. This is not just pouring concrete and putting some steel on it. This is what it's about now and certainly for us it's been a huge step forward. We've had interest not just from WhaT you didN'T kNoW! • My perfect evening is... Alfresco dining with my family overlooking the Pacific Ocean • I drive... A Jaguar F-PACE S • It's not good for my image but I like... Man Utd away games – I've been shown on TV a few times and people say I look like a thug! • I'm currently reading... The Fort by Bernard Cornwell • My favourite TV programme is... The Big Bang Theory • The bravest thing I've ever done is... Rescue a friend off of a mountain Mark Hanrahan, group business development director, NM Group

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