Building boom looms for trades industry

‘‘We're building more than ever before, and the workforce to support this boom continues to grow.’’

New Zealand is going to need about 50,000 more tradies by 2021 to fuel its $200 billion building boom - with Auckland leading the charge.

A Government report into construction, released on Tuesday, said about 50,000 more people will be needed in construction-related occupations in the next five years. The trades that are expected to have the largest growth are electricians (14 per cent), plumbers (13 per cent), and civil engineers (11 per cent), Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said.

‘‘We’re building more than ever before, and the workforce to support this boom continues to grow.’’

Currently 490,000 people work in construction-related occupations, with that number expected to hit 539,500 by 2021. The projections are off the back of the National Construction Pipeline Report 2016, which draws on 2013 Census data. The report predicts the total value of building work to top $200 billion. It said construction has been growing at more than 20 per cent a year in Auckland for the past five years and is projected to reach an all-time high of 13,332 homes in 2017.

‘‘The scale of this growth is unprecedented and equates to Auckland growing by the equivalent of Whangarei every three years,’’ Smith said.