Scaffolder Shortage
Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be any other hurdles blocking the path of housebuilders on the route to the near-mythical 1.5 million new homes in the course of this parliament, along comes another one.
There is a shortage of scaffolders.
In a concern echoed across many skills and trades in our sector there’s a demographic timebomb heading our way, according to The National Access and Scaffolding Confederation, with 7% of the workforce planning to retire in the next 3 years.
David Parry, a senior parliamentary and public affairs officer at the Chartered Institute of Building, is quoted in the national press: “The shortage of scaffolders is a prime example of the skills and worker shortages being faced across every aspect of the construction industry.”
Meanwhile, despite investment in skills training for young people, parity in minimum wage costs with older workers is killing second-year apprenticeship and first job opportunities in so many of the trades.
And while we all know that demand, cost, taxation and planning issues mean that the country is going to get nowhere near the Government’s targets this year or in the foreseeable future, scaffolding is a particular issue in the context of Net Zero targets.
The pressure to move towards lower Whole Life Carbon construction methods and materials is driving adoption of timber frame as a building methodology. You see it every time you drive past a new development – completed foundations surrounded by the scaffolding required for fast installation of timber frame panels.
If we haven’t got enough scaffolders and other trades now, how are housebuilders supposed to meet the Net Zero regulatory framework that is surely coming with the Future Homes Standard (assuming it is published in the parliament)?
The construction sector accounted for 17% of business insolvencies last year. There are many things we need, but another skills shortage is not one of them!
James Scott
MD
