Young people honing skills in the construction industry

From fine art at university to studying how to tile walls and floors is quite the career journey.

But it is one that Rebecca Gavigan, who studies in Limavady, has made and she is making a success of it.

Rebecca represented North West Regional College in the SkillBuild NI competition in wall and floor tiling.

The competition tests students from Further Education (FE) Colleges across Northern Ireland on construction apprenticeship programmes.

Rebecca, who joined as a mature student, said she wanted to do something practical.

“At university I did fine art, and then 10 years later I was working and doing all sorts of stuff and finally decided that trade would be the best way to go about the rest of my journey,” she told BBC News NI.

“Tiling can be very practical obviously, but very rewarding and creative so I thought that would be a good route to go down.

“It took a long time for me to decide to do that and make that leap as a mature student, but I’m glad I did.”

She has already proven herself as a tiler, qualifying for the SkillBuild UK finals in 2024.

Aaron Emerson, who studies carpentry and joinery in South Eastern Regional College (SERC) in Lisburn, has also gone back to education.

He has worked as a labourer on building sites for a number of years.

“An opportunity came up on the building site just to go in to joinery,” he said.

“So I sort of took the leap.”

Aaron was competing in carpentry and joinery at SkillBuild NI, but said he received little information about going into a trade when he was at school.

“It’s only in recent years that I’ve really realised that I can have carpentry and joinery,” he said.

“I always sort of enjoyed it when I was younger but I maybe didn’t have the courage to leap into it.”

He said that “plenty of patience” and “being fussy” was key to being a good carpenter.

Aaron goes into college one day a week and works on building sites on joinery the rest of the time.

He has ambitions to be self-employed as a joiner.

“I’d like some day to be able to look at a house and say: ‘I put the roof on that by myself and hung all the doors’,” he said.

David Magee, meanwhile, was competing as a furniture and cabinet maker.

The 19-year-old works as an apprentice for a kitchen company and also spends one day a week in college.

“I left school and came to the tech in Lisburn and I’m enjoying it so far,” he said.

“I didn’t really like paperwork and being in a classroom all day every day, so I preferred then to go for the apprenticeship route.”

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) NI organised the SkillBuild NI event held at the Downpatrick campus of SERC.

According to Rachel Dorovatas, from CITB NI, there is a need for more young people like Rebecca, Aaron and David.

The organisation forecasts that 3,000 more construction workers will be needed in Northern Ireland by 2028.

“We have 11 trades happening in the competition, from wall and floor tiling to plastering, carpentry, joinery, a whole host of activities,” she said.

“We know that the construction industry is definitely facing a skills shortage.

“We also know that there’s an ageing workforce in some of those sectors.

“There are so many great opportunities and great roles from the trades,” she added.

Getting more women into construction is also a priority and Rebecca Gavigan certainly has no regrets about choosing tiling as a career.

“I’m planning to hopefully work for myself, maybe start my own company at some point,” she said.

“Tiling is definitely an art form and it takes a lot of years’ practice and craft to really hone it.”