• Home building body publishes ‘Building a Future: Opportunities in Home Building,’ championing a diverse workforce as key to solving the housing crisis
• Urgent need to enlist over 49,000 new recruits to increase house building output in line with the Government’s 300,000 target

In a new report launched today in Parliament, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) highlight the diverse workforce needed to ensure that the UK meets the challenge of building 300,000 homes every year.

Building a Future: Opportunities in Home Building profiles individuals across a variety of roles in the sector, illustrating that people who want to work in home building have a myriad of options available to them. Getting your hands dirty is optional - though construction is essential to home building, so too is finance, design, planning and sales. There are opportunities for people of all backgrounds and talents to develop a rewarding career.

For the eco warriors, how about becoming a Sustainability Coordinator? Driving improvement of sustainability performance throughout the home building industry, you’ll implement projects to reduce waste, energy and carbon emissions- ensuring the sector helps to meet the Government’s net-zero target.

A tech whiz with an eye for design? Becoming a Building Visualiser could be for you. Using the latest software, combined with excellent design skills, you’ll give people a first glimpse of what their new home will look like.

Hard hat more your thing?  A career as a Site Manager is calling. An industry shortage means you’re unlikely to be out of work, whilst also having the opportunity to manage the construction of major residential developments. Part of a team that builds drawings and ideas into existence, you’ll be shaping the communities of the future.  

Following a period of undersupply, the past six years have seen considerable progress with the delivery of new homes increasing by an unprecedented 93 per cent.* As a result, there has been significant growth in the number of entrants needed to keep pace with this development:

• Three quarters of a million jobs have been supported or sustained by the home building industry
•  Over three jobs are supported or sustained for every new home built. If we were to meet the challenge of building 300,000 homes every year, this could equate to a workforce of almost one million
• Over 8,400 graduate or apprenticeship positions in a variety of roles supported, from bricklaying to quantity surveying and business administration

Growing the sector’s workforce has never been more important. Industry figures show that we will need over 49,000 new recruits to increase house building output in line with the Government’s 300,000 target. The scale of this challenge is laid bare when it is considered that an estimated 145,000 (31% of the total workforce) will retire over the coming years. When combined with the with the likely reduction in European workers post Brexit, this equates to a ticking time bomb for the home building workforce.** Industry calculations show that over 8,000 new recruits are needed for every 10,000 extra homes built.

Regardless of someone’s career aspirations, home building could give them a leg up the ladder. Developers across the country are therefore championing the sector as an aspirational industry that creates opportunities for a broad range of people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

The Rt Hon Christopher Pincher, Minister for Housing at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said of the publication:

“Building a Future: Opportunities in Home Building demonstrates why this sector is one of the most diverse and well-paid industries in the UK. It caters for everyone from the best and brightest graduates designing and creating the homes of the future to school leavers starting their very first job.”

Stewart Baseley, HBF’s Executive Chairman, commented:

“With the publication of ‘Building a Future: Opportunities in Home Building’, HBF and our members are showcasing home building as an industry offering diverse, skilled and rewarding career opportunities.

“Our message is clear: Let’s get this country building, let’s build a future and let’s do it with a diverse workforce.”

* In 2018/19, there were 241,340 net additions to the housing stock. The figures mean that that in the past six years, housing supply has increased by 93% in six years.

** https://www.citb.co.uk/documents/research/citb-migration-research-2019-the-view-from-employers.pdf

 For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact steve.turner@hbf.co.uk  07919 307760