UK (Commonwealth) _ constructions Industry leaders have cautioned that the UK lacks the workers in construction field necessary to create the 1.5 million homes that the government has earlier promised.
They informed the media that tens of thousands more recruits are needed for bricklaying, carpentry, and groundwork to reach close the target.
The largest homebuilder in the UK, Barratt Redrow, and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) have identified a number of factors contributing to the shrinking workforce, including Brexit, aging workers, and skills shortages. The administration stated that it was “taking steps to address” the “dire shortage” of laborers for construction.
Last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reaffirmed his pledge, made soon after taking office, to construct 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029. On Thursday, he also announced major improvements to the planning system and pledged to eliminate “blockers” that are impeding the construction of the new dwellings.
Labour predicts a decrease in housing costs and an increase in affordability for younger individuals to buy and rent homes.
It aims to construct 300,000 new houses annually on average, but has only built about 220,000 in recent years. According to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), there are 2.67 million workers at the moment.
However, for every 10,000 new homes that are to be built, the industry needs almost 30,000 new personnel in 12 different crafts, according to the HBF, the trade group for the house construction industry in England and Wales.
For example, according to government plans, the following additional workers would be needed for a few popular trades:
20,000 bricklayers
2,400 plumbers
8,000 carpenters
3,200 plasterers
20,000 labourers
1,200 tilers
2,400 electricians
2,400 roofers
480 engineers
According to the HBF, the sector can meet present build levels, but tens of thousands of additional workers will be required if we are to meet the goals.
When asked if there were now sufficient employees to build the extra homes, David Thomas, CEO of Barratt Redrow, replied, “No.”
He told the media that the government will have to change the production, planning, and market in order to accomplish their objective. “We must recognize that this constitutes a national emergency, and they are challenging targets,” Mr. Thomas said.
The trade association acknowledged that in recent years, the business has not “enticed” enough new hires. According to the report, a quarter of workers are over 50, reflecting the aging of the workforce caused by all of these variables over time.
Mr. Thomas, the manager of Barratt Redrow, claimed that the push in previous decades to motivate young people to pursue higher education instead of the trade had not aided recruitment.
“If you go back to the 1960s and 1970s, I believe that the government, educators, and parents were really pleased with the notion that people went into trades like bricklaying, plumbing, and electrical work,” he said.
He said that while the average pay for these jobs “is high,” the availability of trained workers remained the main issue. A professional bricklayer can earn approximately £45,000 per year, whereas carpenters and electricians earn approximately £38,000 and £44,000, respectively, according to government statistics.
Skills shortages have been a problem in the UK for a while, but in recent decades, workers from the European Union helped fill the gap to some extent. However, as freedom of movement ended due to Brexit, the pool of potential candidates dried up.
According to the HBF, “restrictions” had made it more difficult to hire from outside, and 40 to 50 percent of competent people had also departed the business after the 2008 financial crisis.
Mr. Thomas acknowledged that “in hindsight” the UK had been overly dependent on foreign labour, pointing out that traditionally the building industry had hired a sizable number of bricklayers from eastern EU nations.
According to the industry’s most recent census, Romania, India, and Poland were the most popular countries of origin for foreign construction workers. EU/EEA nationalities make up over half of the construction workers in London.
The government last month promised £140 million to establish “homebuilding skills hubs” to expedite training and generate 5,000 additional construction apprenticeship spots annually.
