These pages provide an overview of the General Construction Sector including:
|
Qualifications framework for the General Construction Sector |
Sector workforce
The General Construction Sector of CPC08 covers skills for workers in general and off-site construction occupations from entry level to management. [Off-site construction refers to construction which takes place at a different location than the location of use, ie in a manufacturing plant or factory specifically designed for this type of process - constructed items such as building modules, stairs etc, are then transported to the site.]
The workforce is primarily engaged in residential and non-residential building and construction work. The majority of work is on new structures with a proportion involved in alterations and additions to existing buildings. Some work is shared with those from the civil construction sector especially where integrated projects occur.
Occupations and job roles include construction trades such as:
§ Shopfitting
§ Joinery-Timber/Aluminium/Glass
§ Stairs
§ Pre-Fabrication and Machining
§ Stonemasonry (monumental/installation)
§ Signwriting and Manufacture
§ Bricklaying/Blocklaying
§ Building
§ Surveying
§ Carpentry
§ Concreting
§ Demolition
§ Dogging
§ Painting and Decorating
§ Rigging
§ Roof Tiling
§ Scaffolding
§ Solid Plastering
§ Steelfixing
§ Wall and Ceiling Lining
§ Wall and Floor Tiling
§
Waterproofing.
The sector (along with the broader industry) has been experiencing a years of consistent growth paralleled by skill shortages in almost all trade and related occupations in Australia. Carpenters and joiners, plasterers, bricklayers/stonemasons etc constantly show up as average to high in national job vacancy statistics.
The trend toward contracting labour and increasingly labour hire rather than direct employment is more pronounced in the General Construction Sector than any other. Demographic change is a strong factor in worker attraction and retention with an ageing and retiring workforce expected to reduce the supply of workers across the sector.
Emerging trends in the sector
The sector is experiencing structural change and reduction in enterprise size, and an increase in enterprise numbers. The basic methods used by the sector have undergone few changes in recent years, but there have been significant technological changes in prefabrication, energy efficiency and project management tools. These advancements have affected a wide range of fields, from materials (concrete, metal pre-casting and alternative wood products), management methods (subcontracting, prefabrication and project management) and innovations (robotics, computer aided design and electronically linked project management teams).
Benefits of technological advancement are also seen in increased productivity, new capital equipment and the improved energy efficiency of buildings.
Training environment
Growth in the sector and demand for skilled workers in all occupations has placed pressure on the training system to cope with the training needs of employers and individuals. As with many traditional trade-based industries, the focus has been on full qualifications and apprenticeships as the usual pathway to skill development in construction trades.
The trend towards specialisation, however, has resulted in a narrower focus on training outcomes in some sectors (such as residential building) to provide for immediate skill needs. Even so, full trade outcomes continue to be highly valued across the sector. Increasingly, there is also a need for experienced tradespeople to move into supervisory/managerial positions where they can impart to apprentices their hand skills and knowledge.
The most recent review of the nationally endorsed units and qualifications within CPC08 has addressed the current needs of the sector and enhances emerging skills in the industry. For example, the inclusion of new high risk skills competencies requiring special OHS authority licensing in areas such as dogging, rigging and scaffolding.
Qualifications framework for the General Construction Sector
There are forty-two qualifications ranging from Certificate I to Advanced Diploma for the General Construction Sector.
Units of competency developed for industry functions that are also covered by licensing have been packaged within qualifications in such as way as to relate easily to licensing requirements.
The individual qualifications structure including packaging rules for the General Construction Sector is shown below. Remember to check the
NTIS website
for the latest version of the qualifications and units of competency they contain.
|
Qualification |
Qualification title |
AQF alignment |
|
CPC10108 |
1 |
|
|
CPC20108 |
2 |
|
|
CPC20208 |
2 |
|
|
CPC20308 |
2 |
|
|
CPC20408 |
2 |
|
|
CPC20508 |
2 |
|
|
CPC30108 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30208 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30308 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30408 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30508 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30608 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30708 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30808 |
3 |
|
|
CPC30908 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31008 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31108 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31208 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31308 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31408 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31508 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31608 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31708 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31808 |
3 |
|
|
CPC31908 |
3 |
|
|
CPC32008 |
3 |
|
|
CPC32108 |
3 |
|
|
CPC32208 |
3 |
|
|
CPC32308 |
3 |
|
|
CPC40108 |
4 |
|
|
CPC40208 |
Certificate IV in Building and Construction (Contract Administration) |
4 |
|
CPC40308 |
4 |
|
|
CPC40408 |
4 |
|
|
CPC40508 |
Certificate IV in Building and Construction (Site Management) |
4 |
|
CPC40608 |
Certificate IV in Building and Construction (Specialist Trades) |
4 |
|
CPC40708 |
Certificate IV in Building and Construction (Trade Contracting) |
4 |
|
CPC40808 |
4 |
|
|
CPC50108 |
5 |
|
|
CPC50208 |
5 |
|
|
CPC50308 |
5 |
|
|
CPC60108 |
6 |
|
|
CPC60208 |
6 |
Units of competency for the General Construction Sector
The General Construction Sector has been redeveloped with 167 sector-specific, and 39 imported units of competency. These provide greater coverage of industry functions, and also accommodate emerging skills needs.
Click
HERE
to view a complete listing of General Construction Sector units and the individual descriptor and statement of workplace application for each. To view the individual units of competency, visit the NTIS website.
Imported units in general construction qualifications
Within general construction qualifications, wide use has been made of endorsed units of competency drawn from other Training Packages. The imported units of competency cover generic cross-industry functions. These units are accessed from the following Training Packages which can be accessed via the NTIS website:
§ BCC03 Civil Construction Industry Training Package
§ BSB07 Business Services Training Package
§ CHC02 Community Services Training Package
§ CPP07 Property Services Training Package
§ FP105 Forest and Forest Products Training Package
§ ICA05 Information and Communications Training Package
§ LGA00 Local Government Training Package (Superseded by LGA04)
§ LMF02 Furnishing Training Package
§ MEM05 Metal and Engineering Training Package
§ PRM04 Asset Maintenance Training Package
§ RII06 Civil Construction Training Package
§ RTE03 Rural Production Training Package
§ RTF03 Amenity Horticulture Training Package
§ TAA04 Training and Assessment Training Package
§ TDT02 Transport and Distribution Training Package (Superseded by TLI07)
Click HERE to view a summary of the imported units of competency from these Training Packages, and the General Construction Sector qualifications that they have been packaged within.
