Page 60 - Green Builder Sept-Oct 2016

CODE ARENA
The Latest Rules, Regulations and Codes Impacting Sustainable Construction
Anti-Immigration Politics Overseas Make
Labor Shortages Worse for Builders
Britain’s Brexit-induced labor woes suggest that similar policies
in the U.S. would hurt the industry.
BY MIKE COLLIGNON
IF YOU PICKED UP A NEWSPAPER, read news headlines on the
Internet or even visited any social media channels near the end of
June, you probably heard about Brexit—the British exit from the
European Union. While the pros and cons have been discussed
ad nauseam, what hasn’t received much coverage is the effect on
the homebuilding industry.
The homebuilding industry in Britain relies on skilled labor from
the European Union. Though nearly half of homebuilders in the U.K.
do not think Brexit will affect their business’s ability to recruit skilled unwelcome. My immediate concern is that there could be a prolonged
labor, 27 percent reported labor to be the biggest factor restricting
the amount of homes they can build, according to Propertyweek.com.
The U.K.’s version of National Association of Home Builders is
called the Home Builders Federation (HBF). Exactly four months prior
to the Brexit vote, an Inside Housing article quoted a spokesperson
for the HBF as saying: “While the industry is recruiting heavily and
training thousands of young people, it does currently rely on skilled
labour from abroad. If it is to maintain the significant increases
in output of the past two years, it is imperative it has access to an
adequate supply of labour. In the event of us leaving, we would
certainly be pushing government hard for guarantees that sufficient
Economic changes. In June, 52 percent of British voters chose to
leave the European Union. It’s unknown how the move will affect
construction and other industries.
58 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2016
skilled foreign labour would be accessible.”
While one would expect a diplomatic answer from an industry
association, the Inside Housing article quoted unnamed house
builders who were more direct with their words.
“The most concerning thing would be continuing to have access to
a good supply of labour, which has been the most inhibiting factor
and remains the most inhibiting factor for the industry,” said one
anonymous senior executive. Another added: “I think it’s extremely
period of uncertainty, which will hit every aspect of manufacturing.
The longer term impact is that it will potentially cause issues around
skills and the availability of labour—which is a big problem, anyway.”
MIGRANT WORKERS
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is another trade association
in the U.K. They’ve urged the government “to not turn off the free-
flowing tap of European migrant workers” if the U.K. wants to
meet its house-building and infrastructure goals. The U.K. Housing
Minister stated in 2015 that the government wants to average 200,000
homes built annually over the next five years. There were 139,680
homes started in 2015, according to the Department for Communities
and Local Government. To increase the number of new housing starts
by 43 percent seems unrealistic, even before the exit vote. Now, it
might be impossible, according to the article.
FMB said 12 percent of British construction workers are of non-
U.K. origin. A MarketWatch.com article reported: “The majority of
these workers are from E.U. countries, such as Poland, Romania
and Lithuania. They have helped the construction industry bounce
back from the economic downturn, when 400,000 skilled workers
left the industry.”
Up until now, the lack of manpower has driven building costs up
for U.K. house builders. Simple economics tells us that a further
reduction in labor force will lead to an increase in demand and
labor costs. The MarketWatch article states this is happening in
a country where masons already earn up to £60,000 (more than
$87,500) per year in London, and £45,000 (over $65,500) in rural
Northern England.
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