Shortage Of Construction Workers

Shortage of construction workers in the UK

The solution to the UKs housing shortage could be delayed due to a severe lack of tradesman currently working in the UK.

Skilled tradesman in the construction trade are now some of the most sort after professional people in the country, this is resulting in some tradesman’s wages matching that of doctors and lawyers.

New builds are struggling to keep up with demand due to the shortage and this intern could have a big impact on the UKs economic growth.

Large companies such as Balfour Beatty who have been involved in large projects such as the Olympic stadium said the construction sector is struggling due to the lack of skilled labour such as bricklayers, joiner, plasterers and tilers.

Maxine Wheldon, HR director of the company’s major projects business, said: “The demand for skilled labour within the infrastructure sector is at an unprecedented level and this is forecast to rise with major programs on the horizon, such as strategic roads investment, HS2, Crossrail 2 and new nuclear projects.”

“The UK labour market is overheated and the main contractors are fishing in a limited pool for highly skilled resource, which often has a consequence of inflating salaries for scarce skills.”

The Home Builders Federation has stated that training people in the building trades was now the biggest single issue that the construction industry faces.

House builders across the UK have already recruited many thousands of new apprentices and are looking to attract anyone with skills that could be transferable from other industries or military backgrounds.

To plug the shortage short term, tradesman have been recruited from abroad, long term goals are to get a strong UK tradesman workforce, this can come from private training center’s retraining anyone that is interested in becoming a self employed tradesman.

UK Pro Tiling Training is one of the many successful training Centre’s across the country who are doing fast track self employed wall and floor tiling courses.

Centre director Darren Yorke has said “ there has never been a better time to learn a new trade, with the skills shortage wages are high and there is plenty of work out there whether that be on a building site or on private domestic dwellings, our fast track tiling courses can show you all the required skills needed for you to make a start in the industry.”