Who Will Build the World’s Next Infrastructure?

Last Updated 1 day ago by Kenya Engineer

A new railway begins with a drawing. A power plant begins with engineering calculations. An airport begins with a master plan. A water treatment plant begins as a set of specifications. But none of these becomes infrastructure simply because it has been designed.

Between the architect’s drawing and the commissioned facility is a workforce that surveys the site, sets out foundations, fabricates steel, installs electrical systems, lays pipes, operates machinery, configures control systems, tests equipment and eventually maintains the asset. Architects and engineers may determine what is to be built and how it should perform, but technicians, technologists, artisans and other skilled workers are essential to turning that design into something that actually works.

As countries invest heavily in transport, energy, water, manufacturing, housing and digital infrastructure, the availability of these skills is becoming an infrastructure issue in its own right.

The challenge is global. UNESCO-UNEVOC has warned that the expansion of infrastructure and technology has moved faster than the development of the human capacity required to build and maintain it. Its recent work on technical and vocational education and training identifies a particularly important contrast: many African countries have large young populations with insufficient technical skills, while Europe and parts of Asia and the Pacific face ageing skilled workforces.

The question is no longer how much infrastructure countries can finance. It is whether they have enough people capable of building it.

The workforce between the drawing and the finished project

The construction and engineering workforce is sometimes described as a hierarchy, with architects and engineers at the top and skilled trades further down the chain. In practice, infrastructure delivery is much more interdependent.

An architect determines spatial requirements, functionality, aesthetics and increasingly the environmental performance of a building or facility. Engineers translate those requirements into structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, environmental and other technical systems.

Technologists and technicians occupy an important practical space between design and implementation. They work with drawings, equipment, measurements, testing procedures and digital systems. Artisans then perform highly skilled work such as welding, fabrication, electrical installation, plumbing, masonry, machining, carpentry and mechanical installation.

On a complex project, these roles overlap continuously.

A structural engineer may specify a connection, but somebody must fabricate and assemble it to the required tolerance. An electrical engineer may design a distribution system, but electricians and technicians must install, test and commission it. An architect may specify a sophisticated building-management system, but controls technicians must configure sensors, controllers and communication networks before the building can operate as designed.

The quality of the finished infrastructure depends not only on the quality of the design but on the competence of the entire delivery chain.

Infrastructure is becoming more technically demanding

The skills required to build infrastructure are also changing.

A construction site is no longer a collection of workers using conventional hand tools. Digital surveying, drones, computer-controlled machinery, Building Information Modelling, prefabrication and automated equipment are changing how projects are planned and executed.

The same is happening after construction.

A modern water treatment plant may use SCADA to monitor pumps, reservoir levels, pressure and water quality. A power substation increasingly relies on digital protection and control equipment. A modern manufacturing plant may contain robots, programmable logic controllers, variable-speed drives and industrial networks.

The technician working on such systems requires a different combination of skills from the traditional image of a tradesperson.

Electrical technicians increasingly encounter automation and instrumentation. Mechanical technicians may work with computer-controlled equipment. Water technicians are increasingly expected to understand telemetry and digital monitoring. Construction workers encounter increasingly sophisticated surveying and prefabrication technologies.

This does not make traditional skills obsolete. It raises their technical requirements.

UNESCO’s recent work on TVET in construction identifies digitalisation, greening and migration as major forces changing the sector and argues that training systems need to adapt accordingly. The organisation also notes that construction employs approximately 7 per cent of the global working population and accounts for more than a third of global energy demand, making the skills used in the sector important to the wider transition towards more sustainable infrastructure.

The green transition is creating new trades

The energy transition illustrates the change particularly clearly.

Solar photovoltaic systems require installers, electricians, technicians and maintenance personnel. Wind farms require electrical and mechanical specialists. Battery storage facilities require technicians who understand power electronics, battery-management systems and safety procedures.

Electric mobility creates another layer of demand. Charging infrastructure requires electrical installation and protection, while electric vehicles introduce new requirements for technicians working with high-voltage systems, batteries, diagnostics and power electronics.

Green hydrogen adds another set of skills involving electrolysers, electrical systems, process equipment, instrumentation, storage and safety.

These are not just university-level engineering problems. A large part of the work involves people who can install, operate, inspect, diagnose, repair and maintain the equipment.

UNESCO-UNEVOC’s current work on greening TVET reflects this shift, with programmes aimed at helping training institutions develop the capabilities required for green jobs and more resource-efficient production.

The implication is significant. The transition to cleaner infrastructure will require not only new technologies but a workforce capable of deploying them at scale.

The maintenance workforce matters just as much

Infrastructure policy often concentrates on construction. A project is announced, financed, designed, tendered, constructed and commissioned. But that is only the beginning of the asset’s life.

A railway needs signalling technicians long after the construction contractor leaves. Transmission lines need inspection and maintenance teams. Water treatment plants need mechanical and electrical technicians. Roads require drainage and pavement maintenance. Airports need specialists for electrical, mechanical, baggage-handling, communications and building systems.

The same principle applies to buildings.

A sophisticated commercial building with lifts, fire systems, access control, HVAC, standby generation, solar power and building-management systems requires technicians capable of keeping those systems operating.

This is why a country can build impressive infrastructure and still struggle to obtain the expected service life from it.

The shortage may not be concrete or steel. It may be the people who know how to maintain what has been built.

Kenya’s TVET system illustrates the challenge

Kenya provides a useful case study because its technical training system is undergoing significant change while the country is simultaneously expanding infrastructure.

The national TVET system currently includes 24 national polytechnics, 213 technical and vocational colleges and 1,222 public vocational training centres. The public VTC system alone had 141,157 trainees and 6,061 trainers as of June 2024, according to the State Department for TVET.

The training system is also moving away from a model based primarily on classroom instruction and examinations towards competency-based education and training.

TVETA’s current standards cover competency-based education, training and assessment, recognition of prior learning, industrial attachment, centres of excellence and competency-based assessment.

That shift matters because infrastructure employers ultimately need people who can perform tasks to a defined standard, not simply people who have completed a course.

A certificate showing that someone studied electrical installation is useful. Demonstrated ability to install, test, troubleshoot and safely commission an electrical system is much more useful to a contractor.

Apprenticeship could be the missing bridge

One of the biggest challenges in technical education is the transition from training institution to workplace. A student can learn welding in a workshop, but industrial fabrication introduces different tolerances, production schedules, quality-control requirements and safety procedures.

A trainee can study electrical installation, but a construction site introduces coordination with other trades, inspection requirements, drawings, deadlines and changing site conditions. This is where apprenticeships and structured industrial attachment become important.

Kenya is currently working on strengthening this area. TVETA and the Federation of Kenya Employers have been engaging on quality apprenticeship guidelines intended to make apprenticeship programmes more structured, industry-responsive and employer-led.

In June 2026, TVETA and the International Labour Organization also concluded stakeholder validation of proposed apprenticeship standards. The process brought together government, training institutions, industry associations, regulators and employers, including the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, National Industrial Training Authority, National Construction Authority and Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Associations.

That industry involvement is important because employers are the people who understand where graduates encounter practical gaps.

Recognition matters for the people already doing the work

There is another large workforce that formal education systems can easily overlook. Across Africa, many skilled workers have acquired their abilities through years of apprenticeship and practical experience rather than conventional college programmes.

Kenya has attempted to address this through Recognition of Prior Learning. TVETA’s RPL framework allows skills and experience acquired outside formal training to be assessed and recognised. The system is particularly relevant to experienced artisans who have learned through the informal sector.

This is more than a certification issue.

A skilled worker who can demonstrate competence but has no recognised qualification may face barriers when seeking formal employment, registering a business, progressing into further training or participating in major infrastructure projects.

RPL can help bring such workers into the formal skills system without requiring them to repeat training for skills they have already mastered.

The architect’s role is changing too

The workforce question does not begin at the construction site. It begins with design.

Architects and engineers increasingly make decisions that determine how much work is performed on site, what skills are required and what technologies workers will encounter.

Prefabrication can shift work from the construction site into controlled manufacturing environments. Modular construction changes the skills required for assembly. BIM creates a common digital environment for architects, engineers and contractors. Digital fabrication can require technicians who understand both physical manufacturing and computer-based production.

This means designers need a stronger understanding of how buildings and infrastructure will actually be constructed and maintained. A design that cannot be efficiently built, commissioned or maintained is ultimately an incomplete engineering solution.

The same applies to infrastructure in operation. If a water utility does not have technicians capable of maintaining automated pumping systems, or a power company lacks specialists able to troubleshoot digital protection equipment, the sophistication of the original design becomes a liability rather than an advantage.

Training for infrastructure that does not yet exist

One of the hardest tasks for education systems is preparing workers for technologies that are still emerging. It is difficult for a training institution to build a curriculum around equipment that industry has only recently begun adopting.

That makes the relationship between employers and training institutions critical.

Curricula need to change faster. Training equipment needs to reflect what workers will actually encounter. Instructors need exposure to current industrial practices. Employers need to participate in defining occupational standards and providing workplace experience.

Kenya’s TVET regulator is already working with industry and development partners on these issues, while the government is also discussing modular training and micro-credentials as the sector responds to digitalisation, labour mobility and changing industry demand.

The same principle applies globally. Training institutions cannot operate as isolated academic environments while industries change around them.

The workforce should be planned alongside the project

Major infrastructure projects routinely have detailed plans for finance, land acquisition, materials, equipment, construction schedules and risk management.

Skills should be treated in the same way.

Before a major railway is built, the project should establish how many signalling technicians, electricians, welders, mechanics, machine operators and other specialists will be required during construction and operation.

Before a large power programme is launched, the workforce required to install and maintain generation, transmission, distribution, storage and control systems should be part of the planning.

Before a water programme is financed, the capability to operate treatment plants, pumping stations, pipelines, laboratories and digital monitoring systems should be considered alongside the physical assets.

This also creates an opportunity for countries to capture more of the economic value of infrastructure investment.

If most specialised skills have to be imported, a large share of the expenditure leaves the domestic economy. If local workers can be trained to international standards, infrastructure projects can create capabilities that remain long after construction is completed.

Building people is part of building infrastructure

The debate around technical education is often framed as an employment issue. It is that, but it is also much bigger.

A country cannot industrialise without machinists, electricians, welders, fitters, fabricators and technicians. It cannot operate modern infrastructure without people who understand the systems inside it. It cannot maintain expensive assets without a skilled technical workforce. And it cannot successfully adopt new technologies simply by importing the equipment.

Architects, engineers, technologists, technicians and artisans are part of one infrastructure system.

Their responsibilities differ, but the boundary between design and implementation is becoming increasingly important. The more sophisticated infrastructure becomes, the less room there is for a disconnect between the person who designs a system and the people who install, commission and maintain it.

The world’s infrastructure ambitions are enormous. New power networks, railways, ports, airports, water systems, factories, housing and digital infrastructure will require unprecedented quantities of technical work.

The limiting factor may not always be money, materials or technology. It may be people. The countries that recognise this early will not just build more infrastructure. They will build the human capability to keep it working, improve it and build the next generation.

The future of infrastructure, ultimately, will depend on the workforce behind it.