The skills gap is getting bigger. Help us ‘Map the Gap’ so we can close it

It has been all change at the top of the real estate industry over the last few months, some of the new appointments more seismic than others – and most all too predictable.

With the odd exception, such as Jo McNamara’s appointment as the new CEO of British Land, it was largely a case of out with the old bloke, in with the new… ish bloke.

I say ‘ish’ because most of the time, we’re talking about internal appointments of older, establishment men. In these challenging times, businesses aren’t so much going back to the future as forward to the past and sticking or reverting to what they see as a safe pair of hands – read mostly pale, male and stale hands.

For all the handwringing over the missing generation of future leaders (people currently in their 30s and 40s) and the dearth of women, there has been no meaningful action or progress on either front. If anything, the situation has worsened, particularly when it comes to senior women.

This isn’t just evident in the recent crop of appointments. When BE News is inviting guests to roundtable debates and take part in panel debates, it is incredibly difficult to secure the right percentage of women. There are not enough senior women to invite. There are not enough women full stop.

Women and younger leaders are not the only groups under-represented in the board room, across the wider industry and at industry events (apart from those dedicated to them, which, depressingly, are all too often commercially supported by those who are not).

What message does this send to those who are mid-career, assessing what their prospects might be in a few years’ time and realising there might not be any, not in the built environment industry anyway, because they are the wrong gender, wrong colour, wrong age or are from the wrong socio-economic background?

What message does it send out to those who are thinking of entering, or have just entered, the industry and who may have great mentors and advocates but don’t have role models who look like them, talk like them, act like them or think like them in their organisations, certainly not at the top?

The message it sends is: ‘Take your talent elsewhere. You’ll get more respect, more money, more job satisfaction and more opportunities. Your services are not required here and, frankly, you’re not welcome.’

Too harsh? Look around you. If you are in an organisation of any scale, there is probably a semblance of diversity at entry level, which is where much of the focus is (and let’s not kid ourselves, where the best optics and bragging rights are). But what about when you get to people in their mid-20s and beyond? How diverse are those cohorts? How many women are returning – or not – from maternity leave? How many people who speak out, challenge the prevailing monoculture or think differently stay the course?

As Elizabeth Joseph-Adigun, CEO and founder of The HerEstate Network, succinctly put it after the BE News ‘Map the Gap’ roundtable debate at UKREiiF: “We don’t have a talent problem. We have a retention problem.”

Damn right we do – particularly with certain groups – and it is high time we did something about it, or it will get even worse, especially if people further up the food chain who are fearful of the potential impact on AI on their jobs decide to pull up the drawbridge.

That is why in collaboration with Cobalt Recruitment, we are launching the ‘Map the Gap’ campaign.

Our view is that we must measure the skills gap – or ‘Map the Gap’ – before we try to close it and that while there are lots of laudable, well intentioned individual initiatives out there, we need to work collaboratively with organisations across the built environment industry, rather than in a proprietary way within organisations or sector silos, to do this.

We then need to speak with one voice to government and demonstrate that the skills gap extends beyond the construction industry and a shortfall in the number of people required to a shortage in the right sort of people with the right sort of skills. Then, we need to take meaningful, collective action to tackle the gaps.

Will you join us in our mission? To help us ‘Map the Gap’, all you need to do is fill in the relevant ‘Built Environment Industry Job Prospects Survey’ – there’s one for employers and one for employees – so we can identify where the key skills gaps lie and establish the cause and scale of those gaps.

Take the survey for a chance to win a prize!

Please click the Built Environment Job Prospects Employee Survey or the Built Environment Job Prospects Employer Survey to take part – the surveys only take a few minutes to complete and you will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win a cash prize – and spread the word with colleagues and industry friends. The more who complete the surveys, the more robust and credible the findings will be.

We will be discussing progress with stakeholders at a second ‘Map the Gap’ roundtable debate this summer and revealing the survey findings later this year at the ‘Map the Gap Spotlight’ event, which you are all invited to.

When times are hard, there is inevitably a tendency towards nostalgia. Witness the styles from the 90s and 80s currently back in fashion (anything worn by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, shoulder pads, ties and, not to be attempted by anyone old enough to have worn them first time around, rah-rah skirts).

But this is 2026 not 1996 or 1986. Let’s ensure the built environment industry reflects that. Help us Map the Gap, so we can start to work collectively to close it.

• If you are interested in getting involved in the campaign or sponsoring the next ‘Map the Gap’ roundtable debate and Spotlight event, please get in touch with me (at liz@benews.co.uk) to find out more.