2016 is going to be a big year, according to the construction pundits. We are still blitzed by government announcements about house building. The latest is the demolition of 100 sink estates, which will be replaced with something better – whatever that is. This follows the one about “directly commissioning” builders – again, it’s not clear what that means.
So I am now confused about how many new houses are actually going to be built over the life of the current government, as opposed to how many are going to be fantasised about being built. With the current shortage of skilled labour and the dismal level of recruitment, I don’t see how half of what is being talked about can actually be built unless we really put up our migrant workforce – which is going in the opposite direction to the prime minister’s aim to reduce net migration.
Of course, if the value of the pound goes down against the euro, there is the real possibility that many migrants in the industry might go back home.
“Supplying labour to sites at less than the real, all-in cost undermines honest labour suppliers and employers and distorts the market place.”
2016 also sees the requirement for BIM implementation in the supply chain for government contracts. Whatever happens will be a bit of a fudge. Though so much still needs to be done the target will be deemed to have been achieved. This is an initiative doomed to succeed.
Another interesting number was the £154m of additional income tax that HMRC has recovered from self-employed workers in the industry. This amazing figure – higher than the total corporation tax paid by our top 50 contractors – shows that a large number of contractors have not got their house in order yet and are still promoting bogus self-employment, making the industry an easy target for HMRC.
There is another aspect to this and it is similar to the use of illegal workers. Supplying labour to sites at less than the real, all-in cost undermines honest labour suppliers and employers and distorts the market place. Competent commercial managers should be able to drive it out of the industry, rather than encourage it. The headlines tarnish the image of the industry just as we are under pressure to recruit able people at all levels.
Perhaps the event that will make 2016 a really big year is a decision on another runway for London, although I am not going to hold my breath. It is difficult to get excited about a decision that is possibly 15 years too late and is probably the wrong decision anyway. We need three new runways for London and we will get them – but expect them to be built in Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.
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