Training body says provocative newspaper advert is 鈥榮omething we won鈥檛 be doing again鈥�

ConstructionSkills has been forced to apologise for an advert in The Sun newspaper that was accused of promoting a sexist view of the sector.

Mike Bialyj, advisory services director of ConstructionSkills, said the advert, which ran on 15 April and depicted a woman in a provocative pose, was 鈥渟omething we won鈥檛 be doing again鈥�.

The news comes shortly after ConstructionSkills admitted it was missing its targets for getting more women to join the industry. It recruited 299 female trainees in 2007, down from 387 in 2006. It had set itself the goal of recruiting 463. The agency recently ran a 拢500,000 鈥淲omen in Work鈥� campaign to persuade more women to take up trades.

Bialyj was challenged over the advert by Sandi Rhys Jones, a female partner at construction marketing consultant Rhys Jones Consultants, at a recent Housing Forum event.

Bialyj admitted that he had received a number of complaints, and said: 鈥淭his is an image we鈥檇 rather not portray. The good work we鈥檝e done over a number of years can easily be undone very quickly. It鈥檚 something we won鈥檛 be doing again.鈥�

Asked by Rhys Jones if that constituted an apology, Bialyj replied: 鈥淵es, of sorts.鈥�

Rhys Jones said the advert was 鈥渢asteless and inappropriate鈥�.

The advert was designed to attract entrants to the SkillBuild competition, which aims to reward the 鈥渂rightest talents in the construction industry鈥� between 17 and 22 years old.

ConstructionSkills levied 拢165m in 2007 from building firms to bring more recruits in to the industry.

Nicola Thompson, director of communications and marketing at ConstructionSkills, said the advert was aimed at existing recruits 鈥� most of whom are male.

She added: 鈥淲e did not set out to cause offence 鈥� We will work closely with our media partners in the future to consider how we present a professional and diverse image of our industry."