Bridging the Skills Gap: How Recruitment Partners Can Power Net Zero
Before you read on, get your hands on our free report covering infrastructure plans to guide your 2025–2030 hiring strategy.
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Your Projects May Be Ready, But Is Your Workforce?
Across the UK, infrastructure delivery is accelerating, powered by regulatory frameworks like RIIO-T3, PR24, and Ofgem’s RIIO-3. From grid upgrades to wastewater resilience, the capital is flowing and the targets are set.
But one silent threat continues to grow:
A chronic shortage of skilled people.
Our recent report highlights that 55,000+ new jobs will be created by 2030 through National Grid’s plans alone. Yet many of these roles — project managers, engineers, skilled trades, digital specialists — are already in short supply.
For programme directors, this isn’t just a recruitment challenge. It’s a delivery risk.
What's Fueling the Infrastructure Skills Gap?
Several pressures are converging:
High demand across sectors (energy, water, rail, renewables)
Ageing workforce with retirements hitting key roles
Evolving skills – digitalisation, carbon literacy, systems thinking
Limited DEI progress constraining the talent pipeline
Delivery urgency creating reactive hiring patterns
We support mitigating the risk: delayed timelines, cost overruns, and missed opportunities.
How Yorkshire Precision Bridges the Gap
At Yorkshire Precision Recruitment, we support infrastructure programme leaders with strategic hiring that aligns with delivery goals, not just job specs.
Here’s how we help:
1. Role-Level Workforce Forecasting
We work with clients to map future hiring needs against market availability so you know which roles are at risk before they become bottlenecks.
Case Example: For an electrical infrastructure client, we identified a critical shortage in overhead line supervisors 18 months in advance. By developing a bespoke talent pool and sourcing from adjacent sectors (rail), they avoided a potential multi-million-pound delay.
2. Early-Career Talent Pipeline Design
We connect you with colleges, universities, and pre-apprenticeship programmes — helping you build a sustainable workforce instead of fighting over the same candidates.
3. Cross-Sector Reskilling
Need engineering or project delivery talent? As we are sector agnostic, we source from allied sectors (e.g. oil & gas, manufacturing), broadening the talent pool and reducing onboarding time and cost.
3. Inclusion-First Hiring
We embed DEI principles from day one — helping you meet targets like National Grid’s 25.4% female and 21.4% ethnic minority benchmarks, while attracting a broader range of talent.
4. Supplier Workforce Support
Through our Supply Chain Advisory model, we help Tier 1 and 2 partners develop consistent workforce standards, reducing churn and improving delivery confidence across alliances.
Insights from the Report
Our Workforce Implications of UK Infrastructure Business Plans (2025) report revealed:
62 apprentices already placed by Yorkshire Water but not enough to meet full PR24 delivery scope
Training centres by NGET contractors adding ~400 trainee slots/year but still short of projected demand
Ofgem now requires every company to submit a Workforce & Supply Chain Resilience Strategy in RIIO-3 plans
These are not HR issues — they’re programme delivery issues.
Download the full report here
is your workforce ready?
The fastest way to assess your readiness is with our free tool.
📥 Download: Talent Pipeline Checklist
A 2-page checklist covering:
Key roles and risk mapping
DEI exposure
Early-career pipeline strength
Regional labour trends
Want to go deeper? Book a consultation with our strategic hiring team.
📧 info@yorkshireprecision.com | 📞 0113 418 0806 | 🌐 www.yorkshireprecision.com
