Continued recruiting struggles are a significant barrier to meeting demand for new homes and achieving construction targets, according to a report from Autodesk Construction Cloud.
Two-fifths of companies are actively recruiting but skill shortages are proving a headache for businesses of all sizes, with nearly two-thirds (63%) finding it hard to recruit talent, owing to a lack of career options and negative perceptions about working in the industry.
A third of the 300 construction firms that took part in the 'Construction in Ireland 2022: Building a Workforce for the Future' study, conducted by Core Research, believe young talent is emigrating from Ireland.
Nearly six in 10 (59%) put recruitment difficulties down to a shortage of available skilled workers, and nearly half expressed concern about the rarity of trade skills like bricklaying and plastering (46%) and carpenters (31%).
A quarter (25%) believe construction is less attractive to potential workers than other sectors, with 16% saying there's limited awareness of career options and 15% believe it is seen as a career of last choice.
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According to construction companies, the most challenging roles to fill are fire or health and safety officers (41%), engineers (32%) and bricklayers and carpenters (each 31%). Businesses are fairing better with digitally skilled positions such as data analysts (14%) or artificial intelligence specialists (11%).
"This report reveals the high availability of construction jobs in the marketplace but exposes the lack of access to a skilled workforce and the limitations that shortage is putting on the future potential of the construction industry," said Brian Roche, construction sales lead at Autodesk Ireland.
“Without the talent pipeline to match needed capacity, there could be implications concerning the industry’s ability to meet the demand within the sector currently, across residential and commercial building.
“However, if the sector adapts a long-term strategy through the launch of a national campaign to promote the value of a career in construction, it can develop a consistent talent stream that attracts new recruits and graduates, empowering a skilled workforce with all the know-how coupled with the most up-to-date digital tools to improve productivity and overall job satisfaction.”
Some 85% believe rising cost of materials and the scale of demand are major challenges for the industry, along with builders stalling one-off projects (81%),but the mood is positive despite the economic headwinds, with 38% of companies expecting revenues to rise and a tenth expecting a decrease.
However, the industry is pessimistic about the viability of the government's retrofitting target ambitions and timeline under Housing for All, with four-fifths casting doubt on the industry's ability to retrofit 500,000 homes and building a further 33,000 per year by 2030.
Only 20% of professionals think the housing targets can be reached with the current workforce, while seven in ten professionals (70%) believe the industry will need a bigger workforce to meet the ambitions, and 54% pointed to a lack of people with the necessary skills and expertise required to meet the demand of the National Retrofit Plan.
The survey also revealed that short-term challenges like upskilling and apprenticeships are the top concern for firms while investment plans are limited, and only larger firms are giving focus to sustainability.
Over the next two years, some 71% of professionals say training or upskilling existing staff will be a high priority, while 60% will focus on apprenticeships. By contrast, only around a third will prioritise new facilities (38%) or investment in IT (34%).
Just one in five companies plan to explore investment in new methods of construction like off-site manufacturing (20%) – a figure that is consistent across larger and smaller companies. Some 60% said they are not planning to invest at all in AI, data analytics, 3D printing or VR/AR.
(Pic: Getty Images)
