Construction school tackles gender diversity and skills shortage with virtual reality training
With support from Lloyds Bank, AccXel construction school is tackling the gender diversity challenge and skills shortages in the industry through inspiring, training and connecting people.
Gender diversity is a long-standing challenge in the construction industry. Only 14% of women are represented in the industry and only 4% of those actually work on-site.
Construction school AccXel is aiming to increase that representation to at least 15% within the next five years, and they also want to attract new people into the construction industry to help address the current skills shortage.
They're addressing these challenges through inspiring, training and connecting people.
With financial support from Lloyds Bank, AccXel has been able to offer innovative digital and virtual reality training. On state-of-the-art plant simulators, students are able to train on a tracked excavator, articulated dumper and telehandler – enabling them to gain their confidence and dexterity before they're let off onto real construction sites.
Nicola Bird, Founder and Managing Director, hopes that this is just the beginning – they have many audacous goals and their vision is growing day-by-day.
How AccXel is tackling industry challenges
Video | 2 mins
Hear the full story from Nicola Bird, Founder and Managing Director of AccXel – a UK first, industry-led construction school.
"Lloyds Bank have been a great help here at AccXel and especially for me as a business leader. It's nice to have the confidence and support in a major organisation when you're setting up a new business."
Nicola Bird, Founder and Managing Director of AccXel
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