EC Harris report says more housebuilding employees needed

Report gives suggestions as to how employee numbers can be improved so Government targets are met.

A new report from EC Harris suggests that almost a million new workers are needed to meet the Government’s 2020 housebuilding targets.

The findings have come from ‘People and money – fundamental to unlocking the housing crisis’, which say that the failure to meet the housing needs “will continue to affect generations to come, as housing affordability and mobility is reduced.”

There is also concern that people leaving the construction industry are not being replaced quick enough, and trades that are in the highest demand are currently experiencing shortages.

The report though does suggest ways in which these shortages can be alleviated.

According to the data, the housebuilding industry has historically employed 1.5 full-time equivalent workers each year to build a typical dwelling, with 1.1 associated with construction and the remaining with off-site management.

Through this, it can be estimated that housebuilding industry in particular employs approximately 165,000 site workers and 50,000 in the roles of supervisors, administrators and managers.

However, to deliver 80,000 more housing units to take production in the UK up to 230,000 new units each year, it is thought that 120,000 extra employees will be needed.

The issue is that many people, based on findings from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, workers who are retiring and leaving the industry means that a shortfall of 700,000 needs to be filled.

When added to the 120,000, this is getting towards one million people needed to meet the housebuilding targets.

With 2.2 million people employed in construction, there is scope for people to get involved in the housebuilding process, especially given that a CITB survey says that 50% of the workforce has some experience of constructing houses.

But this is constrained by the fact that specialist skills are needed, with bricklayers in particular in demand with that specific workforce down to 70,000 from 100,000 in 2008.

Demand for plasterers, scaffolders, roofers, quantity surveyors and architects will also increase if these targets are to be hit.

The report has suggested that the best ways to make up for any shortfall in housebuilding labour are to hire from the existing labour pool, or find new sources of skills and capacity for this “dynamic segment in the industry.”

Engaging with self-build, the SME housebuilding sector, housing associations and institutionally-funded developers will result in inclusion of a whole range of construction enterprises who could play a vital role in meeting the housing demand in the UK.

The training and developing of new UK domestic workers is also highlighted by the report as having a potentially important role in improving the number of people in house building, even though it is a “complicated area.”

The report concludes by saying that build-for-sale and grant-funded development can only deliver a finite number of homes and existing models will not fix the housing crisis.

It says: “Expansion will be delivered through the collaboration of a wider range of developers, investors and constructors and the innovation of new delivery approaches backed by different sources of funding.”

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