SMP warns of construction skills shortage in light of Brexit

by: Carmen Reichman
  • 22/11/2016
  • 0
SMP warns of construction skills shortage in light of Brexit
The Society of Mortgage Professionals (SMP) has warned Brexit could lead to a “shortage of vital labour” in the house-building market, if EU workers are not allowed to stay.

SMP estimated as many as 12% of UK construction workers came from other EU countries. If they were asked to leave the UK following its exit from the EU, this would create a skills shortage which could derail the UK’s housebuilding revival, it warned.

Head of professional development Lee Travis said: “We are in total agreement with The Federation of Master Builders, that the construction industry acts as a weather vane for the property market. They are saying that almost two thirds of smaller builders are struggling to find bricklayers and more than half are finding it hard to source enough carpenters and joiners.

“There is a huge skills shortage in the United Kingdom and the prospect of not having easy access to EU migrants post-Brexit could mean that this gap is set to widen.”

The government has set itself a target of building £250,000 new homes a year, or one million by 2020 to solve the country’s deepening housing crisis. However, so far it has fallen short of meeting the targets.

What’s more, several reports have already highlighted the problem of skills shortages in the sector. In November, contractors body Build UK found workforce shortages prevented 25% of contractors from bidding for work in the third quarter of 2016; a marked increase on the 16% reported in the previous quarter. It had also indicated a squeeze in industry capacity and rising costs as a result.

In October, the second annual Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking report found almost one-third (30%) of housebuilders thought there were not enough skilled workers in the industry. Particular shortages were reported with bricklayers, electricians, plumbers and joiners.

Travis said the industry needed official assurance that EU workers would remain in the UK after the split. “Although no-one can predict what the medium to long-term effects of Brexit will be, we cannot afford to lose momentum at such a crucial time for the UK housing market,” he said.

“The House of Lords economic affairs committee recently stated that we need to build as many as 300,000 homes each year to solve the current housing crisis. Any barrier to achieving that objective must be removed.”

Meanwhile, UK lender LendInvest has launched a property development training course to improve the skills of aspiring developers.

The firm was forced to add an extra course after its November event was eight times oversubscribed.

CEO Christian Faes said at the time: “We have been astounded by the interest in the LendInvest Property Development Academy since we launched it [in September]. The interest from developers, advisers and industry bodies alike has highlighted the desperate need for better development education.”

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