CPA commissioned report paints stark picture of the industry

The UK needs 250,000 additional construction workers to deliver planned projects – yet nearly half a million are due to retire in the next 15 years: report

A major new report by Oxford Economics for the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) warns that Britain’s £530 billion construction and infrastructure pipeline is “starting to crack”, with skills shortages, falling investment and delivery delays threatening to derail government growth plans.

The report warns that Britain’s construction engine is stalling under the combined strain of skills shortages, weak investment and chronic delivery delays – leaving flagship projects, from new hospitals and homes to airport expansions, at risk of grinding to a halt.

However, it also highlights the opportunity for government and industry to work together to unlock investment and close the productivity gap.

This step could generate up to £315 billion in long-term economic growth, helping fund national priorities without adding to public debt.

The analysis warns that while ministers talk of “getting Britain building”, much of the pipeline “lacks the workforce, certainty or funding to move beyond announcements.”

Businesses that provide the machinery and skilled operators underpinning construction say they cannot plan or invest without predictable workloads, leaving delivery capacity “dangerously thin”.

The report paints a stark picture:

• The UK needs 250,000 additional construction workers to deliver planned projects – yet nearly half a million are due to retire in the next 15 years.
• 44% of firms report labour shortages restricting activity – the worst figure of any major UK sector.
• Apprenticeship completion has slumped to 53%, while pay for young workers in construction has fallen below wage rates in the retail sector.
• Construction productivity has declined 0.1% a year since 1997, leaving output per worker below 1990s levels.
• Only 14% of major government projects are rated on track, and less than half the National Infrastructure Pipeline has confirmed costs or funding.
• Funding certainty plunges from 68% this year to just 33% by 2030, creating what Oxford Economics calls “a crisis of confidence” for investors and contractors.

The report identifies Britain’s productivity problem as primarily a capital problem. Decades of under-investment in machinery, technology and infrastructure have left the UK falling behind its competitors.

Whereas manufacturing productivity has risen by 3.5% a year since the late 1990s, construction has gone backwards.