One million recruits needed to beat housing crisis - EC Harris
Construction companies will need to recruit 1 million new recruits by 2020 if the industry is to build the homes
the country needs, according to a white paper by EC Harris.
The paper, People and money – fundamental to unlocking the housing crisis, examines the limits to
housebuilding capacity, with consultancy firm EC Harris exploring the “inadequacy" of current financing and
business models that both the private and public sector use to fund more housing. The report also finds that
many more people must be recruited, with the need for a change in accepted construction practices so that the
industry can deliver more homes “with limited labour resources”.
According to EC Harris, the industry employs 1.5 full time workers per home each year, with 120,000 more
needed to achieve production of 230,000 units per annum. However, due to growth elsewhere in the industry
and high levels of retirement, the number of new workers the construction sector will need by 2020 is 1 million.
EC Harris argued that in determining a solution to the UK housing crisis, access to labour and money were
more important than planning and land availability.
But with the industry attracting only around 20,000 trainees each year and unemployment at lower levels than in
2007/8, EC Harris warned that housebuilders would either have to find new routes to skills sourcing or reduce
their labour requirements by changing the product.
The white paper reveals that the key trades in demand are bricklayers, plasterers, scaffolders and roofers, with
architects and quantity surveyors also squeezed in the professional field. EC Harris said that pressure on
availability in these areas “will grow significantly,” possibly resulting in “market failure – where too many firms
chase too few resources”.
Mark Farmer, head of development at EC Harris, said: “Across the UK, approximately 300,000 units need to be
constructed each year in order to meet demand - 50,000 of these potentially needed in London alone. However,
in 2014 we delivered less than half of this.
“This is now about the need for fresh, radical thinking from both industry and government, which respects the
existing housebuilding model but also seeks out viable routes to large-scale, additional delivery.”
For all the latest housebuilding news and events visit www.house-builder.co.uk
Housebuilder Media Limited registered office:
Ground Floor, HBF House, 27 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Company registration no. 01952317
Registered in England & Wales