Craig Carson, Managing Director at Barratt West London, unpacks the lack of skills in the construction industry and its impact on building 88,000 new homes in London every year for a decade.
It’s estimated that the construction industry needs over 250,000 extra construction workers by 2028 to keep up with the demand for new homes. This is equivalent to around 50,000 extra workers every year between 2024 and 2028, up from the estimated 45,000 needed each year from 2023 to 2027.
It’s evident that the ever-growing skills gap is a ticking time bomb in the construction sector. While we absolutely need more skilled tradespeople to help build the 1.5 million homes set out by the Labour Government, we will struggle to build anywhere near this number unless employment figures drastically increase within planning offices and we start engaging with schools from an early age to teach young people about the rewarding careers available.
In recent news, the Government has announced £100m funding for 300 additional planning roles, which are seldom part of the discussion, however, in practice, this will barely scratch the surface of the true deficit. We also must consider the time it will take to train planning graduates. It takes around two years to train a graduate in housebuilding, and assuming aspiring planners follow the same pathway, this will not be an overnight fix. There is already a backlog of applications, and a drive to boost housing delivery will likely further exacerbate the problem.
Additionally, the Deputy Prime Minister has stated that housebuilders will be required to commit to delivery timeframes before receiving planning permission. This should, in theory, help speed up the delivery of new homes. However, the majority of housing delays occur before permission is granted, due to the backlog of planning applications.
Encouraging and supporting more people into the planning profession is key. Providing £100 million to councils to support the updating of local plans on top of proposals to train 300 new planners is more than welcome, but we must go further in attracting talent to the profession.
Driving the change – The West London Partnership
To attract talent in the construction industry, it’s important to have the necessary programmes in place. The West London Partnership is an industry-leading collaboration between Barratt London and Places for London. With an estimated value of £10bn, the partnership will deliver 4,000 new homes over the next decade across west London including the recently announced Bollo Lane in Acton and High Barnet.
Helping to train the next generation of talent, this partnership scheme has boosted job opportunities, including providing apprenticeships for young people, with 20 new apprenticeships made available at the Bollo Lane site alone. Not only that, but the partnership also includes continuous funding for Places for London’s Educational Engagement Programme, which will contribute £1.5 million over the partnership’s lifetime to help build young people’s careers in construction, improve diversity, and retain future talent. Barratt London is also an active partner in the programme, including coordinating operations and providing volunteering and work opportunities.
The programme works with secondary schools and FE colleges across London that are located near our development sites and meet certain demographic criteria, such as above-average free school meal eligibility, a higher-than-average ethnic minority student population or being a girls’ school.
Since 2021, we’ve developed close working relationships with 16 schools and colleges across London. We’ve reached 12,718 young people with activities ranging from networking sessions, employability skills workshops, apprenticeship and recruitment masterclasses, mock assessment centres, site visits and much more.
Addressing the skills gap
Barratt London offer both apprenticeship and graduate programmes for recent school and college leavers as well as side steppers, so they can gain experience through both the trade Apprenticeship and the Degree apprenticeship programme.
ASPIRE is Barratt London’s two-year programme for graduates which provides successful entrants with six work placement rotations across different parts of the business, before specialisation, to provide a broad understanding of all the major functions and opportunities within the housebuilding industry. During the programme, the graduates develop creative skills while also contributing to the construction industry’s talent pipeline.
The Government’s commitment to support the much-needed training of new planners is a positive step in the right direction. However, to truly address the skills challenges within the industry, it’s key that we go a couple of steps further by encouraging and more importantly supporting people who are keen to join the industry.
We have to start by educating those in primary and secondary schools that construction doesn’t have to be dirty work, and that there are many possibilities for young people, whether that’s becoming a plumber or a project manager. There are endless opportunities that can offer young people a rewarding career for many years.
Investment in accessible training programmes will ensure that young people have the opportunity to gain the relevant experience and skill set required in this industry. It’s also important that as housebuilders we showcase how rewarding the industry can be in providing its workers with a sense of pride in the communities built and real satisfaction in the creation of people’s homes.
That’s why our collaborative approach with the likes of Places for London and our other partners, including Grainger, Helical, FastNed and The Earls Court Development Company, all of which is wonderfully supported by our delivery partner, Construction Youth Trust. From our perspective, its fundamental in helping to change perceptions and create genuine opportunities within the built environment.