Jewson has launched a petition calling on the government to get Britain’s building and construction sector out of crisis and into positive economic growth.
As the backbone of Britain’s economy, general builders and specialist tradespeople urgently need the confidence and support to stay in business and to deliver the volume of new and upgraded housing stock required that local communities desperately need.
The UK is short of 6.5 million homes, with 1.5 million targeted by the government to be built by 2029. To close the gap by 2040, 565,000 new homes are needed each year, more than double the current rate.
Planning alone can consume years and hundreds of thousands of pounds, with no guarantee of approval. 9,000 small and micro housebuilders have already left the industry since the global financial crisis of 2008, with now fewer than 2,000 still operating – and reducing by the day. The economics no longer add up, and with them go the diversity of housing and thriving local communities across Britain that everyone desperately needs and wants.
£600million investment has been pledged to train up to 60,000 new construction workers by 2029. And yet, to deliver the 565,000 homes needed each year, 225,000 additional skilled craftspeople will be needed by 2027. And that figure doesn’t account for the equally urgent task of repairing and improving the existing housing stock. Nor does it account for the 25% of tradespeople set to retire from the sector within the next five years. There are more than 35,000 current job vacancies in construction – the highest vacancy rate of any UK sector, with over half of them unfilled due to skills shortages.
Where homes are available for sale, potential homebuyers are nervous to jump on or along the housing ladder due to a lack of confidence in the economy, exacerbated by very real fears driven by current geopolitical volatility. Would-be buyers are also hindered by an absence of equity-share financial support and heavy stamp duty taxes.
Jewson is championing a petition, #LetsGetBritainBuildingNOW, calling on the government to build certainty and confidence in the market, focusing on the three biggest things general builders and specialist tradespeople are crying out to be resolved:
1. Provide financial incentives for people to buy or improve their homes.
2. Implement a simpler, faster and cheaper rules-based planning consent process, powered by AI.
3. Incentivise careers in building and construction, accelerating workforce training and talent attraction.
As a business committed to supporting small and medium builders and tradespeople, Jewson forms part of STARK Building Materials UK Ltd, one of the UK’s leading networks of builders’ merchants and materials distributors.
John Carter, CEO of STARK Building Materials UK Ltd, who is championing the petition, said: “Despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Britain still needs to get building again. The conflict continues to bring price-inflationary pressures that we’re pushing back very hard on to protect our customers as best we can, and as we maintain a reliable flow of material supply into the market. However, this latest challenge only strengthens the headwinds our sector continues to lean into, with building and construction being in the longest period of significant downturn that I’ve seen in my near 50-year career. Enough is enough. Sometimes you just can’t wait, and saving our industry is too important to be left on the brink.”
“Britain’s hardworking professional trades are at the heart of building our local communities. It’s unthinkable that slow, costly and contradictory planning processes, chronic skills shortages, and a collapse in public confidence are pushing one of our most vital industries to the brink. I really hope that people will get behind this petition, so that we can bring the collective voice of building and construction to Number 10 and turn debate into decisive positive action that kick-starts the sector’s recovery and also much-needed broader economic growth.”
Helene Bradley, communications director for STARK UK, said: “The industry’s in crisis. It’s really important that the broader business community and general public start to understand what’s keeping our hardworking builders and tradespeople awake at night and to consider the unintended consequences if action isn’t taken.”
“We believe this petition will help amplify the collective voice of builders and tradespeople across the land, so that we can together get Britain building again – and now.”
To learn more about the issues underpinning the petition and to join Jewson’s efforts, visit https://www.jewson.co.uk/lets-get-britain-building-now.
You can sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/LetsGetBritainBuildingNOW
