More house builders needed
Recent news reports the Government will struggle to meet its housebuilding target due to a severe shortage of skilled construction workers.
And the situation for the construction industry is predicted to worsen once Britain leaves the European Union, as many of the current skilled workers are from EU countries. It’s not a new problem within the industry and certainly hasn’t come about due to Brexit alone. In fact, the skills shortage has been noted for some time due to an ageing workforce and a lack of new entrants to the market.
But with the impending exit from Europe, low interest rates and plentiful initiatives to get people on the property ladder, demand for homes is healthy and skilled workers are urgently needed to maintain new housing supply.
Training is vital
In a survey from the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 62% of surveyors believed skills shortages are holding back the construction sector. Some in the industry argue that the Government should allow free movement of construction workers from EU countries to Britain, once Brexit occurs. However, others disagree that doesn’t deal with the crux of the problem, which has been sometime coming, and instead, investment in training and attracting younger people into the industry is crucial.
Home Building Skills Partnership
Formed in 2016, the Home Building Skills Partnership (HBSP) was set up to work with some 40 housebuilding companies of all sizes, to ensure the industry has the skills needed to build new homes. The £2.7millon initiative brought together by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and Home Builders Federation (HBF), Chaired by John Tutte, Group Chief Executive of Redrow, uses industry insight to understand skills gaps and develop new training and qualifications suited to the modern housebuilding sector. As well as attracting new talent to the industry, its focus is on providing concentrated training to develop the qualified workforce required to build high quality new homes.
A degree in housebuilding
Housebuilder Redrow meanwhile, has announced its launching the UK’s first housebuilding degree to help tackle the industry’s growing skills shortage. Starting in September 2018, students will learn all elements of housebuilding on the 3-year degree programme, from quality to project management, health and safety to negotiation, as well as aspects of mathematics, economics and law.
The course, being run by Liverpool John Moores University’s Department of Built Environment, in partnership with Redrow and Coleg Cambria in Wrexham, is currently only open to Redrow team members. However, there are plans to roll out the degree to other housebuilders over the coming years. Redrow employees with an NVQ level three qualification or a minimum of five years’ experience in the industry can be nominated for the programme, with Redrow expecting up to fifteen people participating each year. After two years working towards a foundation degree, the final year will see individuals able to become a full BSc (Hons) Construction Management in Housebuilding degree, validated by Liverpool John Moores University.
Karen Jones, HR Director at Redrow and a trustee on the Construction Industry Training Board, said, “Participants on the course will be able to learn while they earn and develop the skills necessary to rise through the ranks in the housebuilding sector.” She continued, “We feel it is important to share best practice with other housebuilders and we hope that in the future, the degree programme can be opened up to construction industry workers from across the industry. We believe this new programme will encourage people to enter the sector, as well as imparting crucial skills on those already in the workforce.”
