Umbrella company contractors who work in the construction sector may be pleased to learn that new opportunities will shortly be available at Center Parcs’ new site at Woburn Forest.

The construction phase of the Woburn Forest development will create around 1,200 jobs and freelancers in the Bedford area should be able to take advantage of some of the available opportunities.

Funding was recently agreed for the new site, which will be situated near Millbrook, and construction of the facilities is now able to commence. The project is scheduled for completion by Spring 2014, so over the next couple of years, there could be some lucrative contracts on offer.

Martin Dalby, the chief executive of Center Parcs, said he was delighted that the project was now moving ahead. The company is very grateful to Central Bedfordshire Council for all of its support and Center Parcs will be hosting a meeting shortly to keep the local community up-to-date with the construction timetable.

The Center Parcs development will include 625 forest lodges, a retail centre, a swimming pool and other related buildings.

Contractors in the construction industry have been having a hard time recently as turbulent economic conditions have wreaked havoc on the industry. A lot of building projects have been put on ice or abandoned completely over the last couple of years, so this news from Center Parcs should bring fresh hope to the beleaguered construction community, and particularly to contractors in and around Bedfordshire.

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Results of a recent survey commissioned by APSCo show that demand for contractors, including those working through umbrella companies, has decreased by 13% over the last year.

Placements for IT contractors dropped by 27% in the past 12 months whilst contractors in banking and insurance fared even worse; seeing opportunities fall by 34%.

However, the construction sector bucked the downward trend and registered a 33% rise in demand for contractors. Engineering and manufacturing industries also increased their contractor usage by 15% over the 12-month period.

The study also showed a slight decrease in the percentage of the overall workforce employed as temps or umbrella contractors; from 6.4% to 6.1%.

The chief executive of APSCo, Ann Swain, said she hoped the decrease in contractor demand was simply a short-term reaction to the current crisis in the Eurozone. As she pointed out, contractors are usually at the forefront when it comes to headcount reductions, but when confidence returns, businesses turn to them first.

She went on to say that the sheer flexibility of the contractor workforce makes it a hugely valuable asset for the UK economy. During times of crisis, companies will put non-urgent IT projects on ice, but as soon as the outlook improves they will be thawed out and contractors will be back in business.

John Nurthen from Staffing Industry Analysts explained that contractors in the banking sector have seen their rates decrease by up to 15% recently and some banks have told their temporary workers to take a mandatory unpaid festive break.

He added that although contractor demand has dropped in the banking sector as a whole, niche areas like compliance and risk are still showing significant demand.

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The REC has been investigating anti-competitive behaviour by 7 recruitment businesses that operate in the construction sector and last Friday it revealed its findings.

The investigation, by the Professional Standards Committee of the REC followed a four year investigation by the OFT into charges that the seven recruitment businesses breached the Competition Act.

Following the REC investigation, five of the seven businesses received a public reprimand from the REC’s PSC that will stay on their records for the next two years. This is the maximum sanction available save for expulsion, said a PSC spokesperson.

The companies in question are Anders Elite, Fusion People, Randstad CPE, Eden Brown and Henry Recruitment. All five have had detailed conversations with the REC’s PSC and have put measures in place to prevent further breaches occurring.

Randstad issued its own statement about the matter saying that the breach took place prior to the Randstad Group’s acquisition of two companies, Beresford Blake Thomas and Hill McGlynn & Associates.

These 2 companies had entered into a collective boycott of an intermediary company, Parc UK and they were also involved in price fixing rates for the supply of construction candidates to certain companies and intermediaries. However, the OFT discovered that these activities did not last long and had limited effect.

Anders Elite also made a statement saying it supports the goal of REC to encourage the highest standard of behaviour amongst recruiters and appreciates the ongoing work of the Confederation to achieve it.

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The MD of technical recruiter CBSbutler, David Leyshon, believes that the government should tighten up immigration rules to ensure that highly skilled migrant workers from non European countries are not stuck in menial roles.

Research from the Home Office shows that nearly 1 in 3 highly skilled non-EU workers, who arrived in the UK on Tier 1 visas, are now in menial jobs such as security guards or shop workers.

These individuals were brought into the country for specific sectors such as IT or construction. At the time there was a high demand for their skills but in the last 18 months the demand has declined and although the workers came here on Tier 1 visas, there is now no work for them in their specific role. Leyshon wants to see the government enforce the Tier 1 guidelines, which say a specific job must be waiting for an immigrant.

Meanwhile, the temporary immigration cap is having an adverse effect on recruitment in the care, construction, manufacturing and logistics sectors, according to de Poel. One in five recruiters say they are now finding it harder to recruit skilled staff. The CEO of de Poel says that the government should rethink the immigration system so that the economic recovery is not harmed and ensuring that migrants cannot undercut British jobseekers and contractors.

There are also concerns that a permanent cap on skilled non-EU migrant workers will mean the UK is unable to recruit the 70,000 engineers it needs for the renewable energy sector.

Earlier this week David Cameron announced that the construction of new offshore wind turbines would create 70,000 jobs in the green energy sector. He also said that the government would do nothing to impede British companies from recruiting highly skilled workers from around the globe.

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