“Skill, baby, skill” – NHBC warns housing targets at risk without urgent skills push

The government’s new mantra to “build, baby, build” must be matched with a national effort to “skill, baby, skill", NHBC chief operating officer David Campbell will warn in his speech to the Labour Party Conference on Sunday (September 28th), urging urgent action to grow the housebuilding workforce.

The call comes after housing secretary Steve Reed vowed earlier this month to “leave no stone unturned” in delivering 1.5 million new homes, bringing together developers and housebuilders to accelerate construction.

Campbell will warn that without a significant and sustained expansion of the housebuilding workforce, the government’s housing targets will be difficult to achieve.

Speaking at The Big Construction Reception, Campbell will say: “We welcome ‘build, baby, build’, but we need to ‘skill, baby, skill’ to ensure we have the workforce needed to build 1.5 million homes.”

NHBC says it is widening its apprenticeship training network and investing £100 milllon in 12 new multi-skill training hubs across the UK. Each new training hub will train 3,000 new apprentices each year initially in the most needed trades.

“Without a significant increase in the workforce, scaling up the volume of quality new homes will be incredibly challenging,” Campbell will say. “More than …