Recruitment specialist One Way has warned the industry's skills crisis is set to get worse in 2017.

With recent studies suggesting activity is rising at its fastest pace in eight months in November, there was still not enough newly skilled workers entering the sector to meet demand.

Paul Payne, Managing Director and Co-Founder of One Way, said with productivity continuing to rise as investors gain more confidence following Brexit, "something was going to have to change fast".

"It's been a year of peaks and troughs for the construction industry and while it's difficult to suggest with too much confidence what will happen over the coming months, our analysis shows that there's still far too few people operating within and, crucially, entering the field," he said.


"It's all well and good trying to make do with the current skills in the market but ultimately there will come a point when we need much greater numbers of people considering construction as a viable career choice.

"At the moment that's simply not happening and with productivity rising at its current rate as investors shake off their Brexit fears, something is going to have to change fast. There are significant skills shortages across the market in roles like planners, estimators and project managers.

"These are skilled positions that require a considerable amount of training and experience so they can't just be recruited off the street and placed in roles. Construction contributes around 6% of the overall economy and we need to see a longer term strategy for improving talent pipelines across the industry developed before it's too late."

(LM/MH)