A survey of members by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that 85% have problems recruiting because of a lack of qualified candidates and 43% have had to turn down work for lack of staff. A further 11% of the industry says that they too will begin turning down work by 2019.
On average, RICS member firms are passing up on of five contracts a year. The survey results suggest that come 2019, more than 5,000 firms will collectively turn down 27,000 projects.
Alan Muse, RICS director of built environment professional groups said: “Surveyors play a pivotal role in the delivery of every construction project. Simply put, without surveyors, things don’t get built. That’s why our research is worrying: if so many firms are turning down work due to a lack of available talent, demand for skills will soon far outstrip the supply. For many companies, that time is already here, but the next few years look like a real tipping point – construction as an industry looks set to grow, but at this rate it’s very unlikely that we’ll have the capacity or the capability to fulfil planned projects.”
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