£200k gaming technology set to bring more apprentices into construction

The £200,000 free-to-download ‘Construction Manager’ game was commissioned by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). The project is part of a £2 million Joint Investment Strategy with various partners and projects, including Learn Direct and Build (LDB).

Developed by a team of academic experts based at City of Glasgow College Riverside Campus, the main aim of the game – which was launched to a Skills Scotland audience of around 6000 young people and teachers – is to attract more Modern Apprentices into the Scottish construction industry.

Douglas Morrison, associate director of innovation and STEM at City of Glasgow College and project sponsor for the game, said: “Construction Manager is fun and engaging, but it also has a serious element which we hope can be used by educators and industry representatives to stimulate interesting discussions in the classroom.

“For example, we regularly see players going bankrupt in their first engagement with the game due to health and safety injuries or poor resource management. We also see players struggle to build in-game reputation due to investment in non-sustainable materials and poor workforce diversity. These are all key issues that we experience in British construction.”

Construction Manager challenges players to grow a small single-trade construction company into a multi-trade profitable business. To succeed, they are required to make decisions relating to recruitment, training and staff management while balancing budgets and growing their company reputation. Players are encouraged to explore different management styles to see the impact their decisions then have on their company.

Michael Lennox, partnerships manager at CITB Scotland, said: “Construction Manager is an innovative way to engage with young people to allow them to experience the world of construction. Through play they can experience some of the highs and lows of owning and developing a construction company.

“It is a way of encouraging a whole new demographic to consider construction as the wide-ranging and fulfilling career it is.”

Stephen Good, chief executive officer of the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC), added: “One of the biggest threats to construction is the risk that the next generation of talent doesn’t view this industry as an attractive destination of choice.

“If we don’t offer an innovative, diverse, digitally connected proposition that inspires our future workforce and engages them around the diverse range of roles available, other industries will. Construction Manager uses gaming as a tool to do just that, changing perceptions and opening minds to a career in this rapidly transforming industry.”

The game is available to download on Windows, iOS and Android devices.

Construction Manager is funded by CITB and supported by the City of Glasgow College, Construction Scotland, Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, Scottish Contractors Group, Learn Direct and Build, Junction-18 and the Scottish Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange.