"Mentoring is particularly important for those who remain underrepresented in construction. For women, who continue to face barriers to progression and experiences of isolation, mentoring provides advocacy, visibility, and support"
- Stephanie Cox - E3P
The construction industry is facing a familiar set of challenges with its workforces in 2025. The skill shortage prevails, with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimating that an additional 250,000 construction workers are needed by 2028 to meet demand. Staff turnover remains high at many firms and diversity levels are not improving. These pressures are not new, but they are playing an increasingly imperative role in preventing growth across the sector, at a time when the government has set its sights on building 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
Technical training and on-the-job experience remain vital, but they are not enough to address these long-term issues. What the industry needs is greater emphasis on mentoring - a critical and often overlooked tool for supporting career progression and building sustainable businesses.
Mentoring is more than management
It’s important to note that managers and mentors are not the same thing – they play very different roles within a company. Managers focus on outcomes, aimed at delivering projects, driving performance and meeting targets. Meanwhile, mentors focus on the people behind a business to ensure they have confidence in their roles and abilities. It’s mentors who offer clarity and support to help people develop their skills long-term.
While both are necessary roles to fill, they do require different approaches and varied skillsets. Managers lead outcomes. Mentors lead with empathy, and the most effective leaders can strike a balance between the two mindsets.
For managers looking to adopt more of a mentoring approach, the first step is to listen more than you instruct, ask questions that encourage reflection, and share your own experiences. These simple changes can make a meaningful difference.
Supporting the skills pipeline
Attracting and retaining talent remains one of the industry’s most pressing challenges. Entry-level recruitment often dominates the focus, but retention is just as important. Research by CITB (the most recent available data) shows that approximately 40% of graduates and apprentices leave the construction industry within five years. This is costing businesses millions when they are forced to recruit and retrain for roles they had already filled.
Mentoring is a fantastic initiative to help businesses avoid these negative recruitment cycles. can make a measurable difference. For early-career professionals, mentoring provides guidance in navigating complex projects, helping workers to build confidence, and offering practical advice on career decisions. It also ensures continuity of knowledge transfer, which is vital as senior professionals retire, and new technical skills reshape project delivery.
Through my work with the Society of Brownfield Assessment (SoBRA) Early Careers Subgroup, I have seen the benefits firsthand. Structured mentoring schemes provide accountability and encouragement that allow early-career professionals to build both competence and confidence, reducing the risk of attrition at critical stages.
Mentoring also helps managers build their own leadership skills. By reflecting on how they guide others, managers develop empathy, patience, and a better understanding of team dynamics - all of which improve project delivery and organisational resilience.
The business case for mentoring
While management is about measuring outcomes, mentoring can actually deliver clear and measurable outcomes too. Construction businesses that embed mentoring into their culture benefit from improved retention, accelerated professional development, stronger leadership pipelines, and higher productivity.
At a time when the industry is struggling to attract and retain staff, the case for structured mentoring has never been stronger. It shouldn’t be seen as an optional benefit, but a strategic investment that allows businesses to futureproof their operations by supporting the workforce of the future.
Embedding mentoring into the business strategy signals a commitment to employee growth, boosting morale and helping attract diverse talent - a factor increasingly important for investors and clients who value ESG credentials.
Bridging skills and innovation
As the sector adapts to digital technologies such as AI, modern methods of construction, and more stringent sustainability requirements, mentoring will play an increasingly crucial role in embedding change.
Mentoring connects the experience of senior professionals with the fresh perspective of younger staff, creating a space where knowledge can be exchanged both ways. This helps businesses not only adopt new innovations but make them part of their culture - ensuring that digital and sustainable practices are not just introduced but embedded.
Supporting diversity and inclusion
Mentoring is particularly important for those who remain underrepresented in construction. For women, who continue to face barriers to progression and experiences of isolation, mentoring provides advocacy, visibility, and support.
Through my role as Chair of Women in Property North West, I have seen how structured mentoring programmes help female professionals build confidence and pursue leadership. Even small interventions can unlock significant outcomes.
For example, I recently mentored a professional who was balancing childcare with ambitions for progression. With practical adjustments and renewed confidence, she went on to secure a leadership role and establish a new department - an outcome that demonstrates the impact mentoring can have, both for individuals and for businesses.
Mentoring can also support other underrepresented groups and those returning to the sector after a career break, helping create a more inclusive and resilient workforce.
Embedding mentoring into culture
At E3P, we have embedded mentoring into our professional development framework. Each role, from Graduate through to Director, is mapped to clear expectations and competencies. Every employee is paired with a mentor outside of their line management, creating space and opportunity for broader discussions around career goals.
Quarterly check-ins are focused on personal development as well as project outcomes, and structured training programmes support technical and leadership skills. Crucially, mentoring is treated as a core responsibility and is recognised in performance reviews.
Recognition of mentoring in performance metrics also motivates senior staff to actively invest time in coaching, creating a ripple effect that strengthens organisational capability and succession planning.
This ensures mentoring is consistent and accessible, while also encouraging more informal support through day-to-day conversations. Both are necessary for a mentoring culture to take hold.
Looking to the future
The challenges facing the construction industry will not be solved through technical training alone. To build a resilient, inclusive workforce, we need to recognise the role of mentoring in retaining talent, closing the skills gap, and strengthening leadership pipelines.
Mentoring isn’t a silver bullet, but it is a practical, proven tool that delivers real benefits for individuals and businesses alike. If the sector is serious about overcoming its challenges, embedding mentoring into business culture must be part of the solution.
As the industry evolves, the businesses that prioritise mentoring will not only retain talent more effectively, but also become more innovative, adaptable, and competitive in a challenging market.
