Construction must ‘modernise or die’
An ageing workforce and a shortage of young replacements will eventually force New Zealand’s construction sector to modernise, a British expert says.
Construction consultant Mark Farmer, who wrote a report for the United Kingdom government in 2016 called Modernise or Die, said the shortage of construction workers was a global problem.
Here in New Zealand, the Government’s KiwiBuild programme was a ‘‘good ambition’’ to have, but it would take a number of years to change the industry to the point where it could manufacture that number of homes.
Farmer said he sensed ‘‘some frustration’’ among construction firms that ‘‘some of the political statements made historically haven’t been backed up by action’’.
Asked what the Government should do, and whether it should offer subsidies – for example, for better machinery – Farmer said: ‘‘You’ve got to be careful you don’t intervene too much.’’
The biggest contribution the Government could make was in terms of government building contracts, and possibly also by being ‘‘heavy handed’’ about construction techniques on projects involving public land.
However, Farmer said he had observed a ‘‘real desire to do something’’ positive in the New Zealand construction industry, more so than in the UK or Australia.
‘‘Construction is such a big industry – it’s over 2.5 million people in our country that work in construction and over 200,000 businesses. To make change happen at that scale is a lot more difficult, I would say, in the UK than in New Zealand, where you can have a real impact.’’
Farmer also did not condemn companies trying to bring in Chinese workers to get projects finished, although he did not view it as a long-term solution.
‘‘You’re talking about a lag of about two or three years for people to get trained up and get them work-ready.’’
‘‘Overseas businesses [may] actually see an opportunity to ship entire houses or parts of houses into New Zealand so you lose economic growth that would have been delivered within the country.’’
Political pledges to improve housing were not unique around the world, he noted.
In Britain, housing was only second to Brexit as a political issue and the UK government had pledged 300,000 houses a year but was currently only building 190,000.
‘‘The reality is, to build 10,000 [affordable] units a year – which is what the KiwiBuild promises – is all going to be about how you ramp up to that number. It’s not going to happen overnight.’’