£140 million investment to boost British homebuilding

A £140 million industry investment to get Britain building again has been launched, starting with 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places being made available.

32 new Homebuilding Skills Hubs will deliver fast-track training to local areas in need of more housing, while also giving apprentices valuable skills to bolster housebuilding in the UK and drive forward the government’s growth mission. These hubs are scheduled to have launched by 2028.

The government is working with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the National House-Building Council (NHBC) to launch realistic training schemes, as well as Skills England. This will ensure that areas that need construction workers the most will receive them, as well as makings are employers and businesses have access to high quality apprenticeships training, kickstarting economic growth and creating more jobs nationwide.

The apprenticeships will be fast-tracked, allowing students to complete them in half the time of a traditional apprenticeship: 12-18 months rather than the typical 24-30 months. This means that more construction workers can be trained quickly, delivering greater economic growth by getting more people into highly skilled jobs.

Minister for skills, Baroness Jacqui Smith, said: “This government is committed to 1.5 million homes being built across this parliament, while breaking down barriers to opportunity by fixing our broken skills system.

“If we are to meet this ambitious target and fix the foundations of our economy, we need to ensure we have a skilled workforce, and give more apprentices a foot on the career ladder.”

Earlier this week, Jacqui Smith hosted a roundtable with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) housing minister Matthew Pennycook MP, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) minister for industry Sarah Jones MP, and social security and disability minister Stephen Timms MP from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to discuss how government departments can work together with industry to reach shared goals of more good-quality homes for all.

Roger Morton, director of business change and NHBC’s Training Hubs, commented: “Our £100 million investment in a national network of 12 NHBC Multi-Skills Training Hubs will train quality apprentices and help shape the future of UK house building. Our expert facilities will shake-up the industry starting with training in critical areas including bricklaying, groundwork and site carpentry.”

Tim Balcon, chief executive of CITB, said: “We have worked closely with the homebuilding industry and government to develop a programme that is focused on equipping individuals with the skills they need to be productive on site, in the most efficient way. This is truly a collaborative approach and one we are very excited about.

“This investment to launch 32 Homebuilding Skills Hubs will help meet the homebuilding targets while flattening peaks in demand for construction skills on homebuilding across the country.”