The Growing Demand For Bricklayers In The UK Construction Industry
The UK construction industry is facing a well-documented skills shortage, and bricklayers are among the trades most acutely affected.
Demand for new housing, commercial development and infrastructure continues to grow, whilst the supply of qualified, experienced bricklayers has struggled to keep pace.
For developers, main contractors and housing associations, understanding the current landscape and working with the right subcontractors has never been more important.
Why Demand For Bricklayers Is Rising
The Housing Shortage
The UK has a chronic shortage of housing, and successive governments have set ambitious targets for new home building that require a significant increase in construction activity across the country.
Brick remains the dominant external finish for new residential properties in the UK, meaning that every additional home built requires skilled bricklayers to construct it. As housebuilding targets are pushed higher, the demand for experienced bricklaying teams follows.
Commercial / Public Sector Development
Demand for bricklayers is not confined to the residential sector.
Commercial office developments, retail schemes, healthcare facilities, educational buildings and public sector projects all require high-quality masonry work, often to demanding specifications and tight programmes.
The breadth of sectors requiring bricklaying expertise means that demand rarely eases even when one sector slows, as activity in others typically continues.
Infrastructure & Regeneration
Urban regeneration projects, mixed-use developments and large-scale infrastructure schemes are creating additional demand for masonry skills in towns and cities across the UK.
Projects of this scale often require bricklayers with specific experience of working at height, within confined spaces or to heritage and conservation specifications, further narrowing the pool of contractors capable of delivering the work to the required standard.
Why The Supply Of Bricklayers Is Under Pressure
An Ageing Workforce
A significant proportion of the UK's experienced bricklayers are approaching retirement age, and the industry has not been recruiting and training new entrants at a rate that will adequately replace them.
This demographic challenge is not unique to bricklaying, but it is particularly acute in a trade where experience and skill developed over many years of practical work are so directly reflected in the quality of the finished product.
Reduced Apprenticeship Pipelines
The number of young people entering bricklaying apprenticeships has not kept pace with the retirement of experienced tradespeople.
Whilst there are positive initiatives aimed at increasing the attractiveness of construction careers to school leavers, the pipeline of newly trained bricklayers entering the workforce remains insufficient to meet current demand.
Post-Brexit Labour Changes
Changes to freedom of movement following the UK's departure from the European Union have reduced the availability of experienced construction workers from EU member states, who previously made up a significant proportion of the bricklaying workforce on larger UK construction projects.
Whilst the industry has adapted, the reduction in available labour from this source has contributed to tightening supply across the sector.
What This Means For Developers
The practical consequence of rising demand and constrained supply is that experienced, reliable bricklaying subcontractors are in high demand and short supply.
Developers and main contractors who leave the appointment of their bricklaying package too late in the procurement process risk finding that the best subcontractors are already committed elsewhere, leaving them with a reduced choice at a critical stage in the project programme.
Building strong, long-term relationships with trusted bricklaying subcontractors, and engaging them early in the project programme, is an increasingly important part of de-risking a development. Subcontractors who know a client's standards, processes and expectations can mobilise more quickly and deliver more consistently than those being used for the first time on a new project.
The Importance Of Quality
When labour is scarce, there is a temptation to appoint any available bricklayer rather than waiting for the right one. This is a false economy.
Poor brickwork is expensive to remediate, can delay subsequent trades and, in the worst cases, can result in structural or weather-resistance failures that affect the long-term performance of the building.
Maintaining standards in the appointment of bricklaying subcontractors, even in a tight market, is essential to protecting the quality and value of the finished development.