Radical steps must be taken to address long-standing problems in the construction sector, according to a government-commissioned review.
The damning report said the construction industry must change its dysfunctional training model, lack of innovation and non-existent research and development culture. It says there needs to be more alignment between construction companies and the developers that hire them.
The Farmer Review of the UK Construction Labour Model was commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The author of the report, Mark Farmer, chief executive of Cast, said: “Unless we find some way of promoting innovation in construction and making the work less labour-intensive and more attractive to new entrants, there is a very real danger of the construction sector going into an inexorable decline over the next few years.
The report made 10 recommendations:
1. Construction Leadership Council should have oversight of the implementation of these recommendations.
2. Construction Industry Training Board should be comprehensively reviewed and a reform programme instituted.
3. Industry, clients and government should work together to increase levels of investment in R&D by changing commissioning trends
4. Industry, government and clients should deliver a comprehensive innovation programme.
5. A reformed CITB should look to reorganise its grant-funding model for skills and training.
6. The government should recognise value of the construction sector and be willing to intervene by way of appropriate further education, planning, tax and employment policies.
7. A reformed CITB or stand-alone body should deliver a more powerful public facing story.
8. Government should provide an ‘initiation’ stimulus to innovation in the housing sector by promoting the use of pre-manufactured solutions through policy measures.
9. Government should work with industry to assemble and publish a comprehensive pipeline of demand in the new build housing sector.
10. In the medium to longer term government should consider introducing a charge on business clients of the construction industry to further influence commissioning behaviour.
http://www.cast-consultancy.com/news-casts/farmer-review-uk-construction-labour-model-3/
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