New report calls on home building sector to focus now on growing the workforce needed for the future.
This report brings together employers, industry leaders and Careers Hubs from across England, working collaboratively to strengthen the future talent pipeline for the home building sector.
Supporting a stronger pipeline
Growing the next generation of home builders
The home building industry must focus now on growing and sustaining the workforce needed for the future if it is to meet the UK’s housing ambitions, according to a new report published by The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC), in collaboration with The Home Builders Federation (HBF) and industry partners across England.
HBF analysis shows every 10,000 additional homes delivered creates more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs across the economy, with bricklayers, groundwork and plant operatives, and plumbers among the most urgently needed roles. At the same time, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) forecasts indicate that the construction sector will need approximately 47,860 additional workers each year to meet housing and infrastructure targets.
The report argues that while young people are increasingly interested in construction careers, the sector faces a growing challenge turning that interest into sustained employment. At a time when close to one million young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET), it highlights a major opportunity to connect more young people with high-quality careers in home building.
Evidence from CEC, based on responses from more than 330,000 young people, found construction ranks among the top five career interests and is one of the few sectors where interest increases through secondary school.
The report identifies two key challenges facing the industry:
- Converting interest into uptake, ensuring more young people progress into home building careers
- Fixing the “leaky pipeline”, where learners and apprentices leave the sector before establishing long-term careers
CEC brings together leading employers in the sector, including Berkeley Homes, Keepmoat, Sterling Plastering Group, and CITB, and is chaired by HBF.
Together, the coalition has tested innovative approaches to strengthening the talent pipeline across the country, with the report bringing together the findings as a blueprint for employers across home building and other sectors facing similar workforce challenges.
Approaches included:
- In Devon and Torbay, local construction SMEs partnered with the Careers Hub to help young people at risk of becoming NEET design and build a community café, improving confidence, employability skills and awareness of construction careers.
- Lincolnshire’s Construction & Engineering Week brought together more than 60 employers and 1,700 young people, with 63% saying they were more likely to consider a career in the sector afterwards.
- Berkeley Group and ThriveMap redesigned recruitment using realistic job assessments, leading to 61% female graduate intake and 85% retention after 12 months.
- In Liverpool City Region, SMEs and major employers worked together to deliver hands-on construction training through the SPL Change Academy’s mock homebuilding facility.
- NHBC’s live-site training hub in Lichfield is helping tackle critical skills shortages, with more than 80% of apprentices retained in their trade.
The report calls for a more coordinated, long-term approach built around three practical priorities:
- Start engaging young people earlier, with sustained outreach from primary school onwards
- Create clearer, supported pathways from education into employment
- Strengthen collaboration between employers, industry bodies and Careers Hubs to scale impact and support SME involvement
"This report shows there is already strong momentum across the home building sector, with employers, educators and local partners working together to create meaningful opportunities for young people. Interest from young people is high and growing, but we need to sustain that interest and translate it into long-term careers. By connecting education, employer engagement and local skills priorities, we can help more young people see home building as a rewarding future and support the workforce the country needs."
John Yarham, CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC)
The report concludes that stronger collaboration between employers, industry bodies, Careers Hubs and education providers will be essential to building a future-ready workforce capable of supporting the UK’s housing ambitions.