The work forms part of a wider coalition – the National Housing Taskforce – which has been convened by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Housing & Planning.
The National Housing Taskforce has identified 12 workstreams to look at, from planning reform to housing associations, and construction skills to mortgage finance. Each work-stream is being led by a relevant organisation that will submit recommendations to the Taskforce by the end of the year.
The CIOB has been tasked with addressing issues in the construction labour market, including availability, productivity and diversity. Additionally, it will look at materials and new technology, primarily off-site manufacture and modern methods of construction.
CIOB policy manager David Hawkes said: “At its most basic level, what this workstream boils down to is capacity. Studies have shown the housing sector needs 120,000 new employees just to meet the required annual level of homes the UK needs. At the same time, house builders say they cannot build more than 150,000 homes per year via conventional means.
“What this suggests to us is that something needs to fundamentally change if we are to properly address the housing crisis. We need more people working more productively and we have to work out how best to utilise and implement new technologies, materials and processes.”
Mr Hawkes said that the CIOB will analyse the responses it receives and then host ‘inquiry-style discussions’ before submitting its recommendations to the National Housing Taskforce by the end of the year. The final National Housing Taskforce report, incorporating recommendations from all 12 workstreams, is expected to be released by spring 2017
The CIOB’s call for evidence can be accessed at: http://policy.ciob.org/consultations
Evidence needs to be submitted by 17:00 on 9th September 2016.
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