PA MediaIndustry leaders have warned that Britain does not have enough construction workers to build the 1.5 million homes the government has promised.
Tens of thousands of new recruits for bricklaying, earthworks and carpentry are needed to get anywhere near the target, he told the BBC.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF), along with Britain’s biggest housebuilder Barratt Redrow, said skills shortages, an aging workforce and Brexit were some of the factors behind the shrinking workforce.
The government confirmed there was a “severe shortage” of construction workers but said it was taking steps to fix the problem.
Last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer repeated a pledge he made shortly after taking office to deliver 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029.
And on Thursday, they unveiled the broom. Changes to the planning system and the removal of “blockers” standing in the way of new homes being built.
Labor hopes that building more homes will lower house prices and make it more affordable to buy and rent, especially for young people.
It aims to build an average of 300,000 new homes a year – up from an average of 220,000 in recent years.
According to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the current workforce is estimated at 2.67 million.
But for every 10,000 new homes built, the sector needs around 30,000 new recruits across 12 trades, according to HBF, the trade body for the housebuilding industry in England and Wales.
Based on the government’s plans, the estimated number of new workers needed for some joint ventures, for example, would be:
- 20,000 bricklayers
- 2,400 plumbers
- 8,000 carpenters
- 3,200 Plaster
- 20,000 ground workers
- 1,200 Tyler
- 2,400 electricians
- 2,400 roofers
- 480 Engineers
The HBF said that while the industry “has the capacity to deliver on current construction levels, tens of thousands of new people will need to be recruited if we are to reach the targets set”.
When asked if there are currently enough workers to build additional homes, Barratt Redrow chief executive David Thomas said: “The short answer is no.”
He told the BBC that the government would have to “revolutionize the market, revolutionize planning, revolutionize production methods” to meet its target.
“They are challenging targets, I think we have to recognize that this is a national crisis,” Mr Thomas said.
But the HBF also said the UK “doesn’t have an adequate talent pipeline” of builders to hire. He cited a number of barriers to recruitment, including poor perception and lack of training in schools, insufficient apprenticeships and the costs of taking on apprentices.
The industry body admitted that the sector itself has not “seen” enough new hires in recent years.
All of these factors have resulted in a workforce that has grown over time, with a quarter of workers over 50, he said.
Barratt Redrow boss Mr Thomas said recruitment had not helped in the past decades to attract young people to further education rather than trade.
“If you go back to the ’60s and ’70s, I think parents, teachers and the government were very happy with the idea of people becoming tradesmen, electricians, plumbers, bricklayers,” he said.
Average rates of pay for these jobs are “high” but the issue is “more about the availability of skilled labor,” he said.
According to government figures, an experienced bricklayer can earn around £45,000 a year, while carpenters are paid around £38,000 and electricians £44,000.
Skills shortages have been a problem in the UK for some time, but in recent decades the gap has been partially bridged with workers from the EU – recruited due to the loss of freedom of movement as a result of Brexit. A pool of has now dried up.
The HBF said 40 to 50% of skilled workers also left the industry after the 2008 financial crisis and that “restrictions” made it difficult to recruit from abroad.
Mr Thomas said that historically the building sector had recruited large numbers of bricklayers from Eastern European Union countries, admitting that “in hindsight”, the UK relied heavily on overseas workers. has been doing but it has been “the norm”.
Romania, India and Poland were the most common countries for overseas construction workers, according to the latest industry census. More than half of London’s construction workforce are EU/EEA nationals.
Last month, the government announced £140 million in funding to create 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places a year and set up a “homebuilding skills hub” to fast-track training.
A government spokesman said the skills centers showed they wanted to “ensure that this country takes skilled careers like construction seriously”.
But ministers faced a blow to his plans from local councils, charged with implementing the new targets in their areas, who said were “unrealistic” and “impossible to achieve”.
The independent think tank Center for Cities also estimated that housebuilders would fall 388,000 short of the government’s target of 1.5 million.
But both Barratt Redrow and HBF have welcomed the government’s plans. The HBF said a “pro-growth policy approach” would enable the industry to “invest in the land needed to increase the supply of people and housing”.
Despite the hiring challenges, Barratt Redrow plans to build between 16,600 and 17,200 in the next fiscal year, about 4,000 more than Barratt itself had forecast. Prior to integration with Redrow In October