£500m needed to reach offsite target according to Arcadis

Arcadis' UK construction market view for spring 2019 claims it will cost £500m to meet government's offsite target of delivering 10 per cent of industry output.

According to the report - titled Treading Water - offsite currently delivers 8 per cent of industry output, a figure which Arcadis expects to increase following the introduction of a government mandate, however the consultant estimates an additional £500m is needed to ensure the target is reached.

Arcadis has called for involvement from larger industrial and institutional players to drive the expansion.

The report claims that current Brexit uncertainty has led to projects being delayed, which Arcadis claims will affect contractors when converting their pipeline into turnover. It suggests that contractors, especially in the second and third tiers, may need to bid for more work to ensure they have a strong pipeline.

In the report, the average growth in earnings for construction employees has doubled to 4.2 per cent over the past year, up from 2.1 per cent in 2017.

The consultancy also addressed issues relating to the skills shortage. The report claims that 41 per cent of the workforce is self-employed, an increase of 11 per cent over the past two decades, which has given contractors less incentive to train their onsite workforce.

According to the firm, technical changes to the industry's skills certification system affecting 60,000 workers has led to an assumption that "many of these workers who are approaching retirement will either not bother to retrain or will enter the 'informal sector'".

This, Arcadis suggests, will see workers undertake informal agreements with contractors rather than retrain for the updated CSCS cards.

Original link - https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/knowledge/skills/arcadis-500m-needed-reach-offsite-target-12-06-2019/