{"id":29251,"date":"2025-02-28T00:59:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/contractor-opens-houston-construction-academy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T00:59:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:59:40","slug":"contractor-opens-houston-construction-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/contractor-opens-houston-construction-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Contractor opens Houston construction academy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/images\/audio_icon.svg?482016190122\" alt=\"-\"><\/p>\n<p>        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"http:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1740499060\/news\/text_to_speech\/houston-construction-academy-burns-mcdonnell_abe0wp.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>A Kansas City, Missouri-based contractor has opened a construction education center in Houston.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Burns &amp; McDonnell announced last week that it had <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.burnsmcd.com\/news\/burns-mcdonnell-opens-construction-academy\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>opened its construction academy<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, which will provide online knowledge assessments and hands-on craft construction training. The academy will seek to educate craft employees in the Houston area on campus and send mobile units out to jobsites around the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Academy students will then go on to work on Burns &amp; McDonnell projects, Jeff W. Rashall, vice president for the contractor, told Construction Dive.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe Construction Academy is a bold step forward in our vision to be the premier provider of craft construction labor in the country,\u201d Brett Williams, president of the Construction Group at Burns &amp; McDonnell, said in the release. \u201cThrough our combination of knowledge and hands-on assessments, we are equipping our construction professionals with the tools they need to be successful out in the field.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The 14,000-square-foot recruitment and training facility, located in the Houston suburb of Pearland, Texas, includes classroom space and learning areas for construction professionals to train. A hands-on skills assessment facility that simulates working on a jobsite will be complete in 2026, according to the news release.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The academy will train and hire for its construction projects across craft skills, such as pipefitting, electrical, carpentry, equipment operation, welding, ironworking and rigging.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Rashall said the top industries in which Burns &amp; McDonnell anticipates demand for craft workers include oil and gas, electrical substations, solar power and battery storage, water and aviation fueling.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><strong><span><span>Dire need for skilled workers<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Associated Builders and Contractors estimates that construction needs to attract 439,000 net new workers in 2025 to meet demand for services.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Despite that being a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/2025-workers-construction-needs-how-many\/738205\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>slightly improved labor outlook<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> compared to previous years, \u201cif you\u2019re a builder, particularly a nonresidential builder, what this indicates is that your main challenge in 2025 will continue to be finding workers to do the work,\u201d Anirban Basu, chief economist for ABC, told Construction Dive.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In December, however, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/hiring-decline-construction-jobs\/739264\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>construction hiring slowed<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> to \u201can unprecedented pace,\u201d Basu said. Though indicating a weak demand for labor, it\u2019s possible that a combination of cold weather and slowing activity due to uncertainty around the incoming presidential administration contributed to the softening, he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For many sectors \u2014 including ones Burns &amp; McDonnell focuses on, such as electrical substations \u2014 the need for a skilled workforce remains high.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Basu described training the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/construction-labor-sectors-outlook-struggles\/736816\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>emerging workforce and equipping new workers<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> with craft skills as &#8220;phenomenally important.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThat\u2019s how we create a larger middle class by exposing these less experienced construction workers to training programs, apprenticeship programs that allow them to develop higher-in-demand skillsets, whether it is for carpentry, electrical work, HVAC, et cetera,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/houston-construction-academy-burns-mcdonnell\/740875\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. 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A &#8230; <a title=\"Contractor opens Houston construction academy\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/contractor-opens-houston-construction-academy\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Contractor opens Houston construction academy\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}