The Construction Industry Training Board estimates that over 250,000 additional workers will be required by 2028 to meet demands to construct 1.5 million homes within the current parliament. The shortage spans all specialisms and layers of the construction industry, from senior project managers to the steel fixers, welders and labourers needed on site.

Employment in the UK’s construction industry is near a two-decade low. Many workers left the sector following the financial crisis as major projects dwindled. Tighter immigration rules following Brexit made it harder to recruit and retain workers in the industry, which relied heavily on hiring foreign workers. Low numbers entering construction apprenticeships, high course dropout rates, and the retirement of older UK-born workers has made things worse. Given the time it takes to train new construction workers, there’s a risk that shovel ready projects fail to take off due to the lack of manpower.

Although there are plans to develop fast-track construction apprenticeships and a proposal to make the apprenticeship levy more flexible, so that employers can use it for a wider range of courses, critics still maintain the government is yet to seriously grapple with the country’s dearth of skilled workers and until it does, their desired building boom will remain on shaky foundations.