On 15th of June 2026, we were honoured to launch The Skills Gulf, our whitepaper on the construction and infrastructure skills crisis, at the House of Lords, hosted by the Skills Minister.
The UK needs 250,000 extra construction workers by 2028. We have a £805bn infrastructure pipeline to deliver. And yet, our skills system remains, in the Prime Minister’s own words, “in a mess.”
As our CEO, Brusk Korkmaz, highlights in the whitepaper, this challenge cannot be solved by government or industry alone. It requires urgent, coordinated action.
We have been living this reality on the ground. Since launching Hercules Academy in 2024, we’ve trained over 2,500 people. But individual effort isn’t enough. This requires a national response.
Our whitepaper makes the case for three things:
Awareness : The industry must actively recruit the next generation, meeting young people where they are.
Technology : VR, AI and IoT can transform how we train and recruit and could make the sector 20% more productive.
Local action : Skills deserts across the UK, particularly outside London and the Southeast, need targeted, coordinated intervention.
We are grateful to Skills Minister Jacqui Smith, Jodie Gosling MP and Graham Hasting-Evans CEO of NOCN Group and our own CEO, Brusk Korkmaz, for their engagement on this issue. The speeches made by Political will and industry collaboration are both essential if we are to close the Skills Gulf.
The whitepaper is available to read now. Follow the link:
https://herculesplc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/White-Paper-Document.pdf
