SOME sector skills councils span bigger industries and career fields than others. But few compare with asset skills whose reach extends from the highly qualified professionals who plan urban developments to the cleaning staff in hospitals in the front line against MRSA.

Asset Skills is even going to be involved in the recruitment, education and training of the 7,500 home inspectors needed to prepare the home condition reports of the new home information packs shortly to be mandatory in England and Wales.

It is a tribute to the flexibility of Richard Beamish, the Asset Skills chief executive, that he is not bowed by such an intimidating task. Where, you might wonder, can he possibly start? The answer has to be based on pragmatism. The common theme of the sector is “looking after the built environment” but, as Beamish points out, he is operating in a field already occupied by a series of well-established professional bodies and trade associations many of which are deeply involved with education and training.

He has decided that he and his team can make the most difference by concentrating their efforts on areas that are not already well-served and by acting as a reference point, connecting those who need training with those who can provide it.

Currently Asset Skills is surveying the labour markets across its huge sector. In due course it must develop a sector skills agreement to provide a framework for future investment by public bodies and employers. But this has to be based on an understanding of the skills resources in the various industries and a forecast of the skills needs of the future.

Meanwhile, though, there are skills shortages to be addressed immediately. One of the most outstanding is in basic skills especially literacy.

Because cleaning services represents a large part of the sector, the problems of less well-educated workers and those for whom English is a second language loom large. As a result “skills for life” and “functional English” have become a specialism at Asset Skills, which is driving forward innovation in this area on behalf of the whole network of sector skills councils.

Management issues are also high on the Asset Skills agenda, again because many supervisors and managers rise through the ranks without formal qualifications or training. Here, though, the response is to identify what courses or programmes already exist and refer employers on to them. “We have a team of advisers who visit employers to help them to find appropriate training for their staff,” says Beamish. “Our starting point is that ‘There must be something out there somewhere’ and most of the time there is.”

Looking ahead, the challenge of the Olympics (and the wider Thames Gateway project) beckons. The nightmare that haunts Richard Beamish is the possibility of all these expensive facilities lying empty, neglected and abused at some point in the future. It is part of his mission to ensure that does not happen.

• One of the earliest beneficiaries of Asset Skills’ work is the Northern Ireland Housing Executive which was facing difficulties in working with people who are homeless, often because they are vulnerable or have chronic health problems.

  In handling these situations NIHE often works in partnership with the voluntary sector, such as Shelter.

  In the absence of training facilities and resources in the Province, NIHE turned for help to Asset Skills, which was able to secure assistance from some of the agencies in Britain.

• ASSET SKILLS FACT FILE

• AssetSkills is the sector skills council for the management and maintenance of the built environment, which encompasses property, housing, facilities management and cleaning. It includes town planners, facilities managers, surveyors, housing managers, estate agents, cleaners and caretakers.

• There are 121,000 businesses and 803,000 employees with 330,000 in property services and housing 61,000 in facilities management and 412,000 in cleaning. More than 90 per cent of firms employ fewer than 10 people.

• The sector accounts for 7 per cent of GDP. www.assetskills.org