The consultation
In a discussion with Esther Croft of Height, commissioned by ConCOVE Tūhura, the Centre of Vocational Excellence for construction and infrastructure, he addressed:
- The potential of AI, automation and robotics to redefine construction workflows
- Aligning education and training frameworks with industry demand, so that graduates arrive with the skills employers need
- Opportunities in sustainability and green building suited to New Zealand’s climate and local innovation
- The place of Māori values and Pasifika principles in culturally grounded, environmentally conscious design
- How ConCOVE connects education, industry and government
The issues
New Zealand’s construction workforce faces several pressures at once: shortages of skilled workers, an ageing workforce, rapid technological change and rising expectations on sustainability. The advancement of Māori and Pasifika people into the sector’s leadership and professional roles is a question of both equity and capacity.
Technology changes the skills mix rather than simply reducing demand. BIM, digital fabrication, robotics and AI create roles that combine trade knowledge with digital capability, and those roles need education pathways that do not yet fully exist.
Why it matters
ConCOVE Tūhura works across education, industry and government on vocational education for construction, so the consultation brought a university perspective on skills and technology into that work. It reflects his responsibility, as head of a department and later a school that educates construction managers, quantity surveyors and engineers, for the pipeline between study and the workforce.
The university’s part
Universities sit at one end of a long pathway into construction, alongside polytechnics, apprenticeships and on the job training. Decisions about what each part of the system teaches, and how learners move between them, determine whether the industry can find the people it needs. Consultations such as this one bring those parts into the same conversation.