The UK construction industry is enjoying immense growth with output reaching its highest level for over two decades in June 2021, and it is forecasted to reach double digits this year. Housebuilding was the strongest sector due to high levels of demand for new homes and price rises, giving the industry confidence to build at a great rate. There is a buzz and energy about the industry as housebuilders look to continue their phenomenal growth and innovate in the areas of technology and sustainability.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has helped to accelerate the digitalisation of the construction industry, as companies have sought to work in new covid-secure ways both on sites and for office-based staff. In the area of the environment and sustainability, the UK Government has set out rigorous new targets for a green building revolution. All new homes in the UK must be constructed to be highly energy-efficient, with low carbon heating, and be zero carbon ready by 2025. For some housebuilders, this is a challenge to do even better in terms of sustainability and they are looking to not only build lower carbon homes but also build them in a more environmentally friendly way such as upgrading site vehicles to reduce co2 emissions, and by recycling and converting waste into energy.
The industry does, however, face challenges caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic and Brexit such as supply constraints and difficulties recruiting new staff due to a lack of skilled workers and high competition for talent. It is argued that the new immigration system introduced post-Brexit, has led to a shortage of skilled construction labour in the UK. In the spring of 2021, vacancies were 25% higher than the average in 2019. For some of our clients, these factors of growth combined with the aforementioned issues have led to an increased focus on the areas of leadership, innovation, culture and talent development. Their strategy is to overcome their challenges by strengthening their people, processes and systems, and by becoming an employer of choice.
Those skilled workers based in the UK are in high demand and can seek out the companies with the best employee and contractor proposition. Today, the marketing campaigns being run by some housebuilders are as much about attracting new home buyers as they are attracting new talent to work across their businesses. Smart housebuilders are doubling down on health and safety, employee wellbeing, as well as training and development. With a smaller pool of available talent, many housebuilders are renewing their focus on apprenticeships, recruiting graduates, promoting internally and offering long-term career growth opportunities. In order to do this, they are reinforcing their training and induction programmes to provide essential training, skills development, mentoring, and leadership development.
It is exciting to be working in a sector experiencing high demand and specifically in the case of one of our clients who build affordable houses, which has a significant social impact. They build quality affordable homes to serve their target market of young first-time buyers, many of whom are key workers and crucially enabling them to get onto the property ladder and buy homes in the areas they want to live. The cornerstone of their strategy is improving customer service and satisfaction and supporting their buyers through every step of the buying process and beyond into the first months in their new homes. With targets being set not only on build rate and units sold but on quality and customer satisfaction scores, to support their strategy there is a great emphasis on enhancing the customer journey, skills development and sales enablement.
For many housebuilders, now more than ever, it is imperative to retain and develop their people and reduce the need to recruit in a scarce market. Gamea Consulting continues to work with clients in the construction industry to strengthen their organisations through executive coaching and mentoring, and leadership development. Primarily, our work involves coaching and mentoring leaders to develop their core leadership capabilities and to enhance their ability to manage change. We also help them to develop their teams, identifying the high potential employees, and develop succession plans. We are excited by the work we are doing with an array of very talented leaders and managers as we support them to develop the skills they need to meet their business objectives and ultimately succeed in today’s challenging conditions.
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