UK and Ireland director of pan European insulation specialist Actis, Matthew King, suggests that the government’s focus should be on finding ways to construct homes that take less time to build and require the skills of fewer tradespeople, rather than centering on the lack of workers.

Training up more people with the skills needed to build the houses so desperately needed will take several years. The lack of stock and higher wage packets – bricklayers alone have been known to sometimes charge double their normal fee - will only serve to aggravate things.

Mr. King suggests that instead of pushing more people into schemes like apprenticeships in an attempt to develop the skills we lack, we should instead elect to build houses that are quicker to construct and require fewer skilled man hours. This then results in a reduced outlay and increased productivity during the period of time in which new trainees are learning their trade.

This idea can be addressed in just two words – timber frame. Barratt Developments has announced that timber frame along with closed panel roof systems will be used on approximately 6% of their plots this year.

If more volume builders follow their lead then this could potentially pave the way to get the UK building on a grand scale once again.

Updated construction methods mean that the quality of a closed panel timber frame house is every bit as good – and perhaps even better in terms of thermal efficiency – than a traditional brick and block build. So while building these timber frame homes requires fewer skilled workers, the lower skill base is not reflected in the final result.

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