Training & Skills
Training and skills emerged as one of five key themes in consultations towards the BEFS Manifesto for the Built Environment. The BEFS Manifesto provides a basis for organisational priorities in the 2026-31 term of the Scottish Parliament.
BEFS Members represent a sector that is vital to Scotland’s economy, climate goals, and cultural identity, yet it is currently threatened by a systemic skills shortage. Without a robust pipeline of trained professionals, Scotland’s historic and contemporary places cannot be maintained, adapted, or protected.
The Skills Gap
BEFS Members frequently report that accessing traditional building skills is a widely experienced, and growing, problem. This shortage has reached a level where some industry leaders describe the situation as, “facing an economic disaster”. Key challenges include:
- Declining Capacity: Planning authorities have seen a 28.6% reduction in spend since 2010, and the number of archaeological officers in local government has decreased by 38% over the last two decades.
- Stonemasonry Crisis: There were only approximately 360 skilled stonemasons left in Scotland in 2023, raising serious concerns about the ability to meet future demand for building repairs.
- Specialist Shortages: One calculation estimates that the Scottish economy will require 58% additional engineers across 31 specialisms by the end of 2027 to meet demand.
The Next Generation
Training and skills are not a niche ‘nice to have’ specialism, they are an essential service required for preventative maintenance to ensure the health of all buildings. Skilled practitioners in masonry, joinery, and ironwork are required to prevent Scotland’s buildings from crumbling and deteriorating. Achieving Net Zero will prove impossible without filling green skills gaps, especially as older buildings require specialist technical knowledge for effective and safe retrofit.
To meet challenges, there must be a culture shift in how these skills are perceived and taught, and action in education, skills pipelines, and workforce diversity. There is currently a lack of exposure to traditional built environment skills and crafts in the Scottish education and employability systems. BEFS Members are keen to improve demographic balance, particularly by encouraging more young people, women, and people from ethnic minorities to enter the sector.
The case for investment and change is strong. Repairing and maintaining buildings supports the development of sustainable local economies the length and breadth of Scotland .Teaching specialist skills like thatching and stonemasonry does more than fix buildings; it preserves cultural heritage and a mechanism for valuable workers to pass their skills and local knowledge on to the next generation.
Our Call to Action
The BEFS 2026 Manifesto calls on the next Scottish Government to treat skills investment as preventative spend. BEFS Members call for:
- Targeted investment in training across a variety of traditional building and wider construction skills.
- Funding to reverse the decline of essential specialisms, from conservation and craft to planning and retrofit.
- A strategic effort to mainstream traditional skills and promote them as desirable, long-term careers.
By investing in the right skills today, Scotland can ensure its buildings remain wind and watertight, its climate targets are met, and its unique cultural heritage is preserved for future generations.
To learn more about BEFS policy influencing work in training and skills, please contact the relevant BEFS Team Members.