The National House Building Council (NHBC) has warned that the government's target to ‘build, baby, build’ 1.5 million homes by 2029 is at risk without urgent skills push.

The Government’s new mantra to “build, baby, build” must be matched with a national effort to “skill, baby, skill,” the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) Chief Operating Officer David Campbell warned in his speech to the Labour Party Conference, urging urgent action to grow the house-building workforce.

Speaking at The Big Construction Reception, Mr Campbell will say:“We welcome ‘build, baby, build,’ but we need to ‘skill, baby, skill’ to ensure we have the workforce needed to build 1.5 million homes.”

This is the latest warning from industry bodies, which also include Checkatrade and the Association of Project Managers, that strong investment and sustained action are required to bridge the construction industry skills gap.

David Campbell said that merely to meet current demand, before even considering upping housebuilding volumes, would require an additional 250,000 construction workers by 2028.

Actis UK and Ireland Sales Director Mark Cooper agrees that encouraging more people to choose a career in construction is vital if such a target is to be achieved.

The company is playing its part by upskilling existing professionals via its RIBA-approved CPD training courses and interesting young people in the industry through school and college outreach sessions.

Cooper adds that at the other end of the process the housebuilding industry must also embrace speedier construction methods to help compensate for a smaller than needed workforce.

That means more offsite construction, which can be around 30% faster than traditional brick and block, thus increasing output capacity.

“Our Hybrid insulation systems are used in many of these modular homes. As the products can be installed by less experienced members of the construction team, this frees up the longer serving colleagues to carry out some of the more skilled tasks,” explained Cooper.

“As they are factory built, such homes are also known to deliver more consistent quality and more effective thermal efficiency.” 

He welcomed the widening of NHBC’s apprenticeship training network and £100 million investment in 12 new multi-skill training hubs across the UK, each of which will train 3,000 new apprentices each year, initially in the most needed trades.

And he echoed David Campbell’s support of government initiatives such as its £625 million investment in construction skills, the creation of the Construction Skills Mission Board and the £3 billion apprenticeship budget.