Continuous professional development changes for construction professionals post Covid-19

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a requirement of all Chartered construction professionals. The benefits of CPD are also espoused by many construction companies so arguably CPD should also be undertaken by all professionals regardless of Professional Body Chartered status. However, construction reports such as ‘Modernise or Die’ (Farmer, 2016) and ‘Building a Safer Future’ (Hackitt, 2018) have highlighted the construction industries lack of focus on skills and training development. This is argued to undermine the competence of construction professionals. The aim of this paper is to therefore understand if construction professionals undertake CPD, and if they believe their current CPD is effective in terms of type and quantity. The paper seeks to understand how CPD needs are identified, why CPD practices are undertaken, and if CPD is reflected upon. A total of thirty-six completed questionnaires were collected from UK construction professionals. Analysis of the responses revealed that Chartered professionals were more likely to take responsibility for their own CPD than none Chartered professionals. Interestingly the impact of Covid19 on CPD practices was also identified. The results revealed that prior to the national lockdown CPD was largely a company-initiated process, as for the most part companies were the ones who often identified training needs. However, since the start of the first national lockdown construction professionals revealed they have an increased focus on the need for CPD and are now less reliant on their company initiated CPD processes and more likely to take responsibility for their own development. Nevertheless, company expectations and requirements were also some of the reasons revealed for CPD participation. Although, belief that the CPD topics covered would be of use in professional requirements, followed by increased employment opportunities and that the CPD topic sounded interesting were the most common reasons for professionals undertaking CPD