Worker shortages raise doubts over Britain’s plan to build for growth

WORCESTER: An acute shortage of construction workers could undermine the foundations of British government plans to get 1.5 million homes built by 2029 in England to help drive economic growth.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won July’s election on a pledge to boost growth and improve infrastructure, as well as fix public services. Construction represents 6.0 per cent of gross domestic product, but underpins growth in other sectors.

While developers welcomed details of his plans for overhauling Britain’s planning system and freeing up more land for building, many say the ambitions of Starmer’s government are not achievable unless worker and skills shortages are addressed.

These gaps have raised questions about whether Britain needs to rethink its post-Brexit immigration system, alongside better training to get more young people into the ageing workforce.“We haven’t really got enough workers to build the volume that we want to build now, let alone think that we’re going to get to 1.5 million homes over the next five years,” said Lioncourt Homes CEO Colin Cole, adding: “So it’s a big issue.”

Cole said Lioncourt’s 1,000 workers, mostly sub-contractors, are working at full capacity to deal with the existing workload. “We will struggle to get the numbers of contractors to satisfy this demand,” said Cole, whose company is due to open its second-biggest housing site to date in the central English city of Worcester next month.

Lioncourt is aiming to increase its sales to 250 homes in the 12 months from March 2025 to March 2026, from 165 in the previous 12 months, and to 500 over the following five years, plans which pre-date the new government’s reform announcements.

CHALLENGES

Britain has long lacked candidates to fill jobs, a problem made worse by the 2016 Brexit vote and Covid-19, with vacancies higher than their level before the pandemic.

Its construction sector, as in many other countries, must also deal with many skilled workers nearing retirement age. The Construction Products Association predicts the sector is expected to lose 500,000 workers to retirement over the next 10 to 15 years, representing around 25 per cent of the total workforce.