The UK construction industry faces a collision between aging workers and massive infrastructure demand.
One region decided to act.
The West Midlands just announced a £75 million program to train 12,000 construction workers over three years. That’s bricklayers, engineers, plasterers, painters. The full spectrum of trades needed to build homes and infrastructure.
This matters beyond one region.
The Math Gets Uncomfortable
Construction employment dropped 10.8% since the pandemic. The industry needs an additional 251,500 workers by 2028 just to meet current demand projections.
The aging workforce makes it worse. Thirty-five percent of construction workers are over 50, but only 20% are under 30. Over one-third will retire by 2035.
You can’t build homes without builders.
The West Midlands faces this reality directly. The region plans 12,200 new homes annually. There’s a £2.4 billion transport infrastructure program. A £160 million retrofit scheme to improve energy efficiency in existing buildings.
All of it requires skilled labor that doesn’t currently exist in sufficient numbers.
What Integrated Training Looks Like
The training program feeds into the infrastructure projects.
Investment in construction skills will scale to £20 million annually, part of a broader £100 million skills investment ambition. An additional £10 million Skills Innovation Fund will match 50% of employer investment in non-qualification courses.
The program runs through Dudley College’s Technical Excellence Hub, one of just 10 Colleges of Technical Excellence nationally. Students train in the specific skills that regional construction firms need right now.
Local residents get employment pathways. Businesses get workers with current knowledge. Infrastructure projects get the labor supply they require to stay on schedule.
The Scale Question
Training 12,000 workers over three years addresses regional needs. The Construction Industry Training Board estimates the West Midlands needs about 4,000 additional workers annually over the coming years.
The numbers align locally.
But the national picture remains challenging. Nearly 1 million additional construction workers will be needed by 2032. The retirement wave accelerates. The UK government’s target of 1.3 million new homes depends on solving this workforce crisis.
Regional programs like the West Midlands initiative demonstrate one model. Integrate training with specific infrastructure projects. Scale investment to match local demand. Create direct pathways from education to employment.
Whether this scales nationally is the question.
Infrastructure ambition without workforce investment produces delayed projects and missed targets. The West Midlands recognized that building programs require builder programs.
The construction boom everyone wants depends on training the people who do the work.