Government move to create 32,000 jobs in house building

Further evidence that the coalition government sees the construction industry as essential to economic growth comes from today’s announcement of a £400 million fund to reinvigorate the house building sector. If this fund delivers on its aims, it could also mean a growth in graduate jobs. The government believes that the initiative can support up to 32,000 jobs. While a good proportion of those will be for trade professionals and experienced hires, it’s likely that a number of the jobs would be aimed at new graduates.

The ‘Get Britain Building’ fund aims to build up to 16,000 new homes. This is to include 3,200 affordable homes, which include rental properties owned and managed by local authorities and registered landlords.

The fund forms part of a wider government housing strategy, which also provides an additional £50 million (on top of this year’s budgeted £100 million) to help refurbish empty homes in (mostly) deprived areas to get them ready for people to use.

Another key part of the strategy is a new scheme for the government to underwrite some mortgages for new houses. The aim is to help first-time buyers, as this will reduce the deposit amount needed. As the construction industry has long lamented the unwillingness of banks to lend, this move should prove popular with house builders.

The Guardian quotes David Cameron and Nick Clegg as saying: ‘The housing market is one of the biggest victims of the credit crunch: lenders won’t lend, so builders can’t build and buyers can buy... It is doing huge damage to our economy.’ The Liberal Democrat communities minister was also quoted as saying: ‘At a time when we need to get every home back into use, tackling empty homes is a very high priority.’

The news is likely to be welcomed by house builders, which have generally faced challenging conditions over the last couple of years – especially felt by the medium-sized companies. Even leading house builders are cautious about their economic prospects. While Barratt revealed in their interim management statement last week that their private forward sales were up 27.4% year on year, their concluding sentences were measured: ‘Following a good start, the group remains on track to deliver profits in line with the board’s expectations for the year. However it is clear that unless we see a significant increase in the availability of mortgage finance then future growth prospects for the industry will remain constrained.’

The government’s housing strategy is the latest in a spread of measures seemingly aimed at revitalising the economy through construction. At the end of October, David Cameron highlighted the importance of infrastructure to the economy. And the National Planning Policy Framework, which has finished its consultation phase, is designed to enable more construction to get through the planning stages. The Guardian reported today that some of the UK’s largest house builders, including Barratt, Bovis and Redrow, strongly lobbied for the Framework’s ‘presumed yes’ response to development applications – a presumption that has alarmed conservationists.

For students looking for their graduate construction, quantity surveying and civil engineering jobs, however, the government’s work is potentially good news in the long term. At least the government is trying to do something to shake up the economic situation for the construction industry – something which is likely to have a positive impact on jobs eventually. Questions remain, though: will it work and how long will it take?

Source: Targetjobs.co.uk, Monday 21st November 2011