Earlier this year a group of major construction industry bodies published a clarion call for all those in the sector to ready themselves for the impact of Brexit. The Construction Leadership Council, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), the Construction Products Association, the Federation of Master Builders, the Home Builders Federation and Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), all came together to create a study based on extensive research over the last two years.
'Building After Brexit: An Action Plan for Industry' details specific steps the construction industry, government and CITB must take to lessen the impact of Brexit, based on extensive research undertaken since the EU referendum result. At the heart of the report is how to attract and retain industry talent. While the British construction workforce is largely homegrown, migrants play a critical role.
Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures show that one-third of workers on construction sites in London were from overseas - with 28% coming from the EU. "Construction needs a twin-track strategy," says Steve Radley, Policy Director at CITB. "We must do more to attract new talent to the sector and get better at retaining and upskilling the current workforce. Finally, the sector must fully embrace digital skills in order to become more productive and mitigate the widening skills gap."
CITB's Construction Skills Network (CSN) forecasts that the construction industry will need to fill 168,500 jobs between now and 2023. If construction continued to grow at the current rate of 1.1% - the average growth rate for the last five years - to 2030 this would increase to just over 250,000 jobs to fill by 2025, and 410,000 by 2030. As it becomes harder to recruit foreign workers after Brexit, current skills gaps could widen significantly. The UK construction industry has historically had low levels of productivity.
It is likely that in the short-term any gains will come from incremental improvements such as reducing project error rates. Here offsite construction provides huge positive benefits. Key international studies suggest that the direct costs of avoidable errors range from 5-20% of project value. Employers will work to adopt the skills and behaviours promoted by the 'Get it right Initiative' to reduce the frequency and impact of rework on construction sites.
'Right First Time' is not just about productivity and profitability. It's fundamentally about delivering quality, leading to greater customer satisfaction and better performing buildings and infrastructure. The report sets out specific actions regarding offsite methods, spelling out clearly that the UK Government should continue with the implementation of the 'presumption in favour' of offsite manufacture and being more productive by 'developing a Future Skills Strategy to identify the skills required to modernise the industry, drive digitalisation forward and boost investment in modern methods of construction.'
This will drive investment, productivity and output and could follow the model of the Section 106 planning agreements. Investment at scale is also required to make significant steps forward in the adoption of offsite. Whatever happens post-Brexit, it is clear that adoption of more offsite construction and digital technologies could reduce the demand for the traditional construction trades, with more of its recruitment coming from professional and technical roles.
For more information and to download a full copy of the report 'Building After Brexit: An Action Plan for Industry' visit the CECA website: https://bit.ly/2H25tnb
