With Britain's housing supply crisis worsening, industry chiefs are calling on the nation's youth to help.
The lack of new housing is being worsened by a corresponding shortage of young people entering the construction industry, particularly in skilled trades such as bricklaying, plastering and carpentry.
Just as the shortage of homes has caused house prices to increase in the recent past, the corresponding shortage of skilled workers means the job opportunities and earnings potential for those who do choose a career in construction have never been better.
Now Britain’s biggest house builders have joined forces with ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for Construction. Their aim is to provide career opportunities for young people in house building.
A spokesman for the House Builders Federation, said: “Britain’s younger generation knows all about the problems caused by too few homes being built, because it is increasingly difficult to get a foot on the housing ladder. Ultimately however, part of the solution to this problem is in their hands. The younger generation is needed by our industry and the country to deliver the increasing number of new homes required. What our industry can and is doing, is to let them know of the huge potential awaiting them. There are excellent career possibilities in construction and with government pressing for a big increase in housebuilding, opportunities have never been better.”
Today the country’s largest housebuilders have teamed up with ConstructionSkills to launch a new three-point programme of initiatives to increase the opportunities and training programmes available.
This three-point programme includes:
· In addition to its existing commitment to the traditional apprenticeship training, the Major Home Builders’ Group (MHBG) and ConstructionSkills are jointly developing a new initiative to greatly increase the number of training places for skilled trades within the house building industry.
· MHBG and ConstructionSkills are promoting the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) through sub-contractors with the aim of having a fully card-carrying workforce by 2007.
· MHBG and ConstructionSkills will work together to draw up a new flexible qualifications structure for residential site management that can be delivered in an efficient way to ensure site managers have the appropriate and relevant skills for the projects they are working on.