AN EDEN construction company is helping offset "the worst skills crisis in a generation" by attracting youngsters into the industry.

Penrith-based Esh Border Construction, part of Esh Group, aims to tackle the problem at grass-roots level by recruiting apprentices and working with school pupils to give them a taster of what the sector can offer.

As the company explained, construction generates almost £90 billion per year and employs more than 2.9 billion people in the UK, but is suffering "a major skills crisis".

Th 2008 recession saw almost 140,000 jobs lost and many construction workers are retiring, with 22 per cent of the workforce aged over 50, and 15 per cent in their 60s.

This ageing workforce is not being replaced by an adequate pipeline of young people, a situation that is expected to create major issues across the next decade.

However, Esh Group has set out to help redress the balance by recruiting more than 100 apprentices in two years - a figure set to reach 150 this year, with roles including plumbing, business administration, painting and decorating, electrical, quantity surveying, construction engineering, landscaping, carpentry and joinery, bricklaying, groundworks and drainage, vehicle maintenance and IT.

The company has also invested £3.6m in a new academy and offices in Bowburn, County Durham, to ensure it can train its future talent.

Meanwhile, in primary schools, teachers are being given learning kits to introduce children to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) themes through the lens of construction.

And in secondary schools, the Building My Skills scheme sees business guests from different backgrounds deliver insight sessions to pupils.

Darush Dodds, head of corporate responsibility and added value at Esh Group, said: "Building My Skills is about opening the doors to the workplace for young people, raising their aspirations and making sure they have the right approach to secure that all-important first job.

"Get into STEM is just one of Esh Group’s responses to a skills shortage across the engineering and construction sectors, and aims to shape career aspirations positively."