Chris Blythe
The old year ended with some interesting stories: Morrison Utility Services and Dyer & Butler being bought by US investor First Reserve and the claims arm of Hill International being scooped up by Bridgepoint.
Those stories, along with the one about the China National Building Materials Company’s plan to build six offsite housing plants, suggest that changes are afoot and that our industry is seen as a place of opportunity.
Other things, such as the increase in fines for health and safety breaches rightly to eye-watering levels, suggest that business cannot continue as usual, despite the desire to do so.
This is evidenced by the dire warnings going out to government about the impact of Brexit on the supply of skilled and semi-skilled, but essentially cheap, labour. Up to 215,000 people could be lost to the industry, it is claimed, but really it’s a plea for the status quo.
The pressure to change is as strong as ever and the question is whether events will happen that let the industry off the hook. In the past, just as we reach the cusp of change along comes a recession, the pressure is off, and the drive for innovation dies.
The classic indicators include more people staying in apprenticeships as an alternative to unemployment, new house buyer satisfaction increasing as house builders produce better quality in a buyers’ market. We see people improving their qualifications just to remain viable in a more challenging labour market. The snake of recession is an escape from the effort of climbing the ladder of opportunity.
But the current combination of events means that even a recession will not provide an escape. With the housing crisis, there is no chance that private sector housing providers can or will be inclined to provide the level of low-cost housing required.
A common plea is the industry needs to do more to be able to attract and retain women. The truth is it needs to do better for everyone — there is a growing mismatch between the aspirations of the people who work in the industry and many employers.
Some jobs ought to disappear with the greater application of technology. In fact, it might be the case that rather than lament the shortages in an area, we eradicate the role altogether through innovation.
It was Oliver Cromwell who said: “He who stops being better, stops being good.” To be better we need the ladder not the snake.
