Partner Article

Building industry body welcomes North East investment but warns of skills gap

Steve Housden, the North-east regional spokesman for the industry-funded construction body the CITB, responds to last week’s budget:

The Chancellor’s announcement of substantial investment in housing and infrastructure projects is great news. The challenge now is to ensure that the sector has the skilled workforce that it will need to take advantage of the return to growth.

Over the next five years the CITB believes that the construction industry will need to recruit 120,000 new apprentices and fill 180,000 new construction jobs nationally. Only by working together can we be sure of winning the war for talent. Failure to invest in the future will mean missing out on the opportunities that will be out there for the taking.

Continuing growth in the construction sector will result in new jobs and demand for a significant number of skilled workers.Our latest research shows that every year for the next 5 years the construction industry in the North-east will need around 2680 new construction recruits annually from 2014-18. To help achieve this, it is likely that the industry will need to recruit in the region of 1900 apprentices every year for the next 5 years.

Housing is set to dominate construction growth in the North East, boosted by Newcastle City Council’s plans to spend around £130 million building 1,200 new homes. P

rivate housing is also expected to flourish in the short term with the support of the Government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme placing a large number of first time buyers on the property ladder. These projects, together with the works needed to maintain the Help to Buy scheme, underline the need for training and recruitment in the industry.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Construction Industry Training Board .