IRISH CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY FACES SKILLS GAP

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and PwC have today released the results a joint construction survey which includes 248 participants representing all sectors of the construction sector including building surveyors, project managers and quantity surveyors including 35 property developers across the country.

Respondents operate in the property and construction market in large corporate firms, construction agencies, government bodies and financial institutions.

The survey highlights that the skills gap is an acute issue in the construction industry. Nearly three-quarters (73%) confirmed that they experienced difficulties recruiting individuals with specific skills in 2016.

Particular skills shortages are in the areas of skilled craft workers such as plumbers and plasterers as well as professionals such as quantity surveyors and engineers.

At the same time, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents said they still plan to expand their workforce in the year ahead. Top challenges to filling available posts are lack of available workers due to emigration, unrealistically high remuneration expectations and a lack of skilled subcontractors.

Respondents to the survey (90%) indicate that they expect output in the residential sector to increase in the next 12 months with 87% of respondents expecting increases in activity for social housing in 2017. Given the acute housing shortage in the country, the anticipated increase in residential construction and the recent announcement on the release of local authority land for housing, is hugely positive and welcomed.

However, the underlying issues still remain such as the high costs of delivering housing to the market. An SCSI report published in 2016 highlights that 55% of the overall delivery cost of housing, is made up of ‘soft costs’ such as levies, VAT, Part IV and other connection charges, and these still need to be addressed.

Sixty-five per-cent of respondents expect output levels to increase for non-residential construction in the year ahead with access to finance and the availability of trade labour being the top two challenges in this sector.

Seventy-two per-cent of respondents in the infrastructure construction sector confirmed that they expect output levels to increase in the year ahead. This expected increase may be partly due to the Government’s plans, as set out in the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Strategy 2016-2021, for €27 billion investment over this period. The lack of investment, principally public expenditure, is the key challenge in this sector.

Speaking about the survey findings, Chair of Quantity Surveying at SCSI, Michéal Mahon said, “The survey highlights that we can expect significant increases in construction activity across Ireland in the year ahead. Much of the increased activity is attributed to new office construction and fit-outs and also residential development which is likely to be ramped up over the next 12 months.”

He added, “To cater for increased activity, we see a number of short term solutions such as sourcing labour from abroad for qualified trades. We see supply chain managers trying to recruit specialist trades from Eastern Europe and some gypsum product manufacturers providing a facility in Ireland to train new trades. With the increased demand for private sector works, coupled with forecasted plans to increase refurbishments in the public sector, survey respondents are particularly concerned about the scarcity of skills and all trades will be in high demand at varying levels of urgency.”

Source: www.businessworld.ie