What We Heard at the London Job Show: Two Days With the UK Construction Industry

On Friday 16 and Saturday 17 October, my co-founder Turhan Ismail and I ran The Builders Academy stall at the London Job Show at Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush. Thousands of people came through the show over the two days, and hundreds of them stopped at our stall.

I've been to plenty of events. This one felt different. The entire UK construction industry showed up in a beautiful way. School leavers, career changers, labourers with years on site, water workers, site managers, recruiters and employers, all in one hall, all asking how to get on site or move up once they're there.

This post is what we heard, and the answers we gave.

How we measure the health of the industry

One way we like to measure the health of the industry is the interest in qualifications that get workers on site in a safe and compliant manner. That typically happens through CITB test registrations and CSCS card registrations.

The interest and surge in registrations at the London Job Show confirmed to me that the UK construction industry is thriving. Most of the people at our stall weren't browsing. They wanted to know exactly what to book, and when they could start.

The questions we heard most

"How do I get my first CSCS card?"

This was the question of the weekend. For most people starting out, the answer is the green Labourer card. CSCS says you need two things for it:

• the Level 1 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment, or an equivalent
• a pass in the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test

Then you apply for the card. You can book each step yourself, or let us handle all three with the CSCS Green Card Full Package. If you'd rather take it step by step, start with the Level 1 course and then book your CITB test. Our free CITB mock tests are the best way to prepare. The full walk-through is in how to get a CSCS card.

"Do I need a Blue Card to work for a water company?"

Yes, if you'll be on a clean water site or working on the clean water network. EUSR, which runs the scheme, says UK water companies require a National Water Hygiene registration before you start. People call it the Blue Card. It lasts three years.

We had more water hygiene conversations than I expected, from groundworkers moving onto utilities contracts to companies getting whole crews registered. Our National Water Hygiene course is online, and it ends with a 25-question test. There's more detail in our guide to the EUSR water hygiene card.

"I've been on site for years. What's next?"

A lot of experienced people came over with this one. Usually the answer is an NVQ. A Level 2 NVQ in your trade is the route to the blue Skilled Worker card, and the supervisory and management NVQs lead on to the gold and black cards. Which CSCS card do I need matches every card to the job and the qualification behind it, and the CSCS black card covers the management route.

"Which tickets do sites actually ask for?"

Here's something many people didn't know. Holding a CSCS card isn't a legal requirement. CSCS is clear that it's up to the principal contractor or client. In practice, almost every major site asks for one, and many ask for short tickets on top. The ones we heard about most were:

• traffic marshal and banksman
• asbestos awareness
• working at height
• manual handling

Each one is a short online course with its own certificate.

"How do I train a whole team?"

Employers and recruiters asked this more than anything else. My answer is always to start from the work your people actually do, not from a list of courses. Our guide to health and safety training for employees sets out what the law expects. Our health and safety courses can all be bought for a team, with a certificate for each person. For maintenance teams who look after buildings, add legionella awareness training.

What two days told us

Demand for construction is rising, and so is the standard expected of every worker on site. Contractors want the right card, the right tickets and current training before anyone picks up a tool. That's the right direction for the industry, and it's why we started The Builders Academy: to make that standard easier to reach, online, at your own pace, on any device.

We've now trained more than 10,000 learners. What stays with me from Westfield isn't the number. It's the people, one at a time, who came to the stall with a plan to get on site and left knowing exactly what to book.

Thank you to everyone who came to say hello, and to the employers, recruiters and training organisations who want to work with us. We're following up with all of you this week.

If we missed you at the show, call us on 0203 345 6575 or start with the CSCS Green Card Full Package. The London Job Show returns to Westfield London on 19 and 20 March 2027.

Kerem Ismail, co-founder, The Builders Academy