A SHORTAGE of skilled workers could lead to a crisis in our construction industry, industry leaders have warned.

John Youle [ok] director of Beard Construction, which has a base in Cumnor Hill, said contractors are struggling to find enough workers, particularly skilled bricklayers and plasterers.

As a result, the going rate for brickies has shot up to £200 a day.

He said: “In Oxford, there have been increasing signs of a skills shortage in the industry.

“Bricklayers’ pay has gone up considerably during the past 18-24 months.

“I hear of rates of £150-200 per day, or £1,000 per week for bricklayers and plasterers.”

There is also a shortage of joiners, carpenters, surveyors, estimators, electricians, plumbers and project managers, he said.

According to Mr Youle, the problem would be worse without immigrant labour.

He added: “In Oxford we have a significant degree of Eastern European labour, which is keeping some sites going.”

If Britain were to leave the European Union and freedom of movement for workers curbed, he believes the industry would be thrown into turmoil.

He said: “There is a longer-term problem, in that it is declining as an industry that people want to go into but that has been masked over the past few years by immigration.

“A lot of people working in construction are Latvian, Bulgarian or Polish and if they weren’t there, we wouldn’t be able to get projects done.”

Mr Youle called on fellow contractors to work with schools to improve careers advice and engage students at an earlier age.

He said: “We need to attract people but it’s not seen as an attractive industry to go into.

“The perception is that it’s hard physical work.”

He added: “In secondary schools, there’s a lot of ‘head down and get on with GCSEs and A Levels’ and if it’s not on the curriculum, they don’t do it.”

Barry Courtenay-Crane has worked in the construction industry for 30 years, after starting as an apprentice bricklayer aged 16.

He is now training director at Ace Training in Kidlington, which teaches bricklaying and carpentry.

Mr Courtenay-Crane said the large number of building projects across the county, including housing developments at Great Western Park in Didcot and north west Bicester plus the Westgate development, means there are not enough skilled workers to go around, forcing contractors to pay up to £190-£210 a day.

He said: “This area is possibly the biggest construction area in Europe.

“These are the same people who were on £110 a year ago.

“Their quality of work or expertise hasn’t changed but they are seeing a 50 per cent pay rise.”

Workers come from all over the country, including Northampton, Birmingham and Bedford and as far north as Newcastle, according to Mr Courtenay-Crane.

He said: “If you can earn £200 a day in Oxfordshire and £110 in Newcastle, that’s £600 a week difference, so why wouldn’t you?

“Four of you drive down in a van, share a caravan when you get here.”

Even newly qualified apprentices command £150 a day, he pointed out.

Oxfordshire Skills Board chairman Adrian Lockwood, is also concerned about the shortage of labour.

He said: “I was talking to students at an Oxfordshire school earlier this year and asked them ‘Do you fancy a career as a pop star?’ Lots of them said ‘Yes’, so I pointed out that a plumber earns 50 per cent more.”

Mr Lockwood, founder and managing director of Bicester-based UV specialists Integration Technology, said he wants local planners to insist that developers employ a certain proportion of locals and train apprentices, as part of planning deals.

He said: “We want to make sure that rather than all the construction workers hurtling down the M40 in a white van, they are coming in on the local bus.

“We have talked to people in London and it works there, so why not here?”

But Ace Training managing director Adam Marsh said the problem lay with construction firms.

He said: “The biggest problem is there are not enough local employers who demonstrate any desire take on construction trainees entering from work experience or training courses.

“Construction firms don’t need to do more at schools, they just need to be offering jobs.

“If they had taken on more apprentices 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have the skills gap we have now.”