A new report on Skills in London and the South East says the areas is facing a major skills crisis as 20% more are workers required to meet the pipeline of around £96 billion of construction projects in 2014-17.
The Construction Industry Council (CIC) writes:
With 20% more workers required to meet the pipeline of around £96 billion of construction projects in 2014-17, the London and South East is facing a major skills crisis. This could impact the wider economy as early as April 2015, when a total of over 600,000 workers will be needed on site to deliver major projects currently in planning, according to a new report by London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and KPMG.
The Report, ‘Skills to build’, outlines the labour requirements to deliver construction projects in London and the South East between 2014 – 2017 and the gaps in training that must be filled to meet this demand.
The industry has experienced great difficulties in recruiting enough skilled workers, for both professional roles and manual trades, to keep pace with new work. According to the report, a 51% increase in training provision would be required to meet demand for skilled labour between 2014 and 2017 to plug a gap of nearly 15,000 people.
Unless the supply of construction labour is increased, house building targets will not be met and the delivery of large infrastructure projects will be jeopardised. With 255,000 workers needed on site to deliver the 2015 pipeline of housing and 400,000 of the workforce expected to retire in the next 5-10 years, change to the industry has never been more pertinent.
The report includes the following recommendations to help fill the skills gap:
- Infrastructure UK should drive a commitment to embed skills and employment requirements in public procurement contracts, aimed at both Tier One contractors and suppliers.
- Government should ensure schools provide obligatory, quality and unbiased careers advice from Year 7, and submit annual careers reports evaluating the range of careers and training options covered.
- Local authorities should maintain and share a pipeline of future projects, with skills responsibility and funding devolved to the most appropriate level of functional economic activity, to enable the commissioning of demand-led training provision.
- The Skills Funding Agency should convene industry bodies and representatives to redesign training and apprenticeship frameworks to reflect modern methods of construction, and disseminate them for adoption by training providers.
