Curb on EU workers ‘will cut new homes by HALF’
Key builder says Brexit fallout could fuel crisis in construction
ONE of the country’s largest housebuilders has warned that cutting off the supply of EU workers to Britain’s building sites could halve the number of homes being built.
The warning adds to fears that curbing migration as part of Brexit plans could worsen Britain’s already chronic housing crisis and blow a hole in the last Government’s ambitions to build one million houses in the next five years.
Rob Perrins, chief executive of housebuilder Berkeley Group, said: ‘Half the workers who build Britain’s homes are European nationals. So if we get migration wrong, costs will go up and we’ll probably deliver half as many homes. The debate about work permits is one of the single most important issues during the negotiations to leave.’
The latest official figures show that 144,000 homes were started during the year to June. The number of homes being built has been declining for decades since a peak in 1968 when more than 400,000 houses were constructed in a year. House prices have been soaring – particularly in the capital.
The warning from Perrins came after construction industry groups wrote to Brexit Secretary David Davis last week to warn of the dire consequences of a loss of migrant labour.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Chartered Institute of Building and the Royal Town Planning Institute said: ‘Britain could stop building.’
RICS president Amanda Clack told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are in the grip of our worst construction skills crisis in almost 20 years. Before June we had a construction skills crisis. Post June it is even more important that we focus on the issue.’ She said Britain needs an extra 220,000 workers to join the construction industry in the period between 2015 and 2019. Last year there were just 17,000 new apprenticeships in the sector.
The Department for Education said it was ‘committed to developing the skilled workforce our construction industry needs’ and
was supporting construction employers through the new apprenticeship levy.
‘The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living here,’ it added.
Berkeley itself has committed to getting 1,500 people into apprenticeships and training by May 2018, 15 per cent of its workforce.
Earlier this year 52 per cent of contractors reported having difficulties hiring bricklayers, while 48 per cent struggled to take on carpenters and 44 per cent experienced problems signing up plasterers.
The Recruitment & Employment Confederation says bricklayers in London can earn almost £50,000 a year.
Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said: ‘Whatever the barriers are following Brexit, whether there is a work permit system or a points system, there will be additional costs and firms are likely to have to sponsor workers.’