Cobalt Recruitment sponsors skills gap summit from RICS

If you’re struggling to hire right now, you’re not imagining it. From bricklayers to building surveyors, the talent pipeline’s thin, time-to-hire’s creeping up, and teams are increasingly stretched. Against this backdrop, the government is pushing ahead with its ambition to build 1.5m homes and create 60,000 jobs. The reality is this ambition seems like a tough ask.  

Next week, we’ll join senior leaders and rising stars from across the built environment for an invite-only two-day event tackling the issue of the skills crisis, examining the challenges it poses in detail while looking for workable solutions. 

Held at RICS HQ in Westminster on 27–28 October, the Spotlight on the Skills Gap event, organised by BE News and Hackathons UK on behalf of RICS, will bring together policymakers, professional bodies, and industry experts to explore creative, collaborative ways to close the growing gap in talent across both blue-collar and white-collar professions.  

As event sponsors and panel participants, we’re looking forward to making meaningful contributions to the conversation.  

Does government ambition need a reality check? 

Probably. 

The new Labour government has pledged to “get Britain building again” with a target of 1.5 million new homes over the next Parliament and 60,000 new jobs to support delivery. But the maths doesn’t add up. The construction sector alone faces a shortfall of around 250,000 workers, more than four times the number of new roles being created. 

Extend that gap across the wider built environment - architecture, planning, surveying, engineering, and commercial real estate - and you’ll see that as well as the numbers issue, there’s a problem with getting the right people, with the right skills in the right places.  

We’re seeing a shortage of good-quality talent across the built environment with every part of the delivery chain feeling the strain. The reality is that without people, progress stops. 

Hackathons and hard questions 

Day one of the event will see around 40 participants take part in a hackathon, developing creative ideas to help close the skills gap. The winning team will be supported by RICS mentors to bring their idea to life. 

Day two shifts the focus to debate and discussion, with a Question Time-style panel, chaired by BE News Editor-in-Chief Liz Hamson, that will bring together a cross-section of voices from government, professional bodies, and the private sector. 

Confirmed panellists include: 

• Nick Maclean, Acting President, RICS 
• Lynda Rawsthorne, Government Head of Property Profession, Cabinet Office 
• Carly Thorpe, Partner, Walker Morris 
• Professor Norman McLennan, Managing Director, Rubislaw Consulting Group 
• Tim Richards, Partner & Head of Agency, Rapleys 
• Sunny-Thomas Obasuyi, Associate Partner, HartDixon 
• Maria Sinclair, Managing Director, Cobalt Recruitment 

The discussion will cover everything from the ageing workforce and declining university enrolments to how industry, government, and professional bodies can make built environment careers more visible and attractive to new entrants. 

This is a real opportunity to challenge perceptions of the built environment. It’s not just hard hats and hi-vis, and projects are not all residential. It’s a hugely varied, vital part of the economy that needs people who can think, create, and lead. We need to capture imaginations early and make the pathways in more flexible and inclusive. 

Shaping the conversation 

The panel will also explore how to address the number of people leaving the sector, the barriers to progression through professional qualification routes, and the lack of diversity that continues to limit the talent pool. 

The process of becoming RICS-accredited, for example, can be lengthy and inflexible for those coming from non-traditional routes. If we want to widen participation, we need to look seriously at how we make professional entry points more accessible without compromising quality. 

Operating across the sector, from real estate and construction to planning, design, and development, Cobalt Recruitment has a front-row seat to the challenges and opportunities facing employers today. We’re committed to using that insight to help shape the future of the built environment’s workforce. 

Finding a collaborative solution 

The key to success has to be collaboration. 

There are some fantastic initiatives out there, but they’re often siloed within individual firms or professional bodies. If we really want to move the dial, we need to take a more joined-up, pan-industry approach. One that supports SMEs as much as major players. 

This is why events like this one are so vital if we’re going to make the changes needed to realise meaningful progress. 

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After the event, we’ll share key insights, takeaways and actions from the panel discussion. We’ll share more soon.