Building the Future Commission: why recruitment is industry’s top priority

After a year of consultation and careful consideration, the Building the Future Commission has published its final report. In this final chapter, Dave Rogers considers the challenge of building a skilled workforce to do increasingly complex jobs – and then keeping them happy

Construction firms are in a battle for skills. They are not just competing with rivals, they are also coming up against most other sectors in the UK economy as they find that the number of overall workers has shrunk in the wake of Brexit and tighter immigration rules.

Recruitment is commonly reported as a priority for businesses, and arguably it should be a construction boss’s number one priority because without the right people none of the industry’s other strategic goals – such as digital transformation, modern methods of construction or net zero buildings – are going to be possible.

Building the Future Commission: why recruitment is industry’s top priority | Features | Building