Home Building Skills Partnership, set up by the Home Builders Federation and CITB, aims to target £2.7m at helping to tackle the nation’s housing shortage.

The partnership aims to support over 3,500 construction businesses and train 45,000 new entrants and 1,000 experienced workers with the new homebuilding training qualifications.

This will include initiatives to promote collaboration on skills across the supply chain, so that the industry can better plan for its future needs.

It will be overseen by a board that will be chaired by Redrow CEO John Tutte and include a range of senior industry representatives and CITB.

The initiative will launch today at HBF’s Policy Conference, which the Housing Minister Brandon Lewis will address. 

Initiatives throughout the four year programme will include:

Research led by HBF and employers, to get a better understanding of the barriers faced by the home building sector. 

Design and delivery of a new Homebuilding Training and Developmental Needs Analysis tool. This will ensure the right training is delivered to ensure the sector’s skills needs are met, now and in the future. 

Establishment of a framework that will set common standards for skills and training in the home building sector. This will deliver a more relevant and valued curriculum and ensuring the safety and satisfaction of homebuilders and their customers.

Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman at HBF, said: “The industry has delivered huge increases in supply over the past couple of years.

“To enable us to continue increasing output, such that we can deliver the high quality new homes the country needs, it is absolutely crucial we build up industry capacity.

 “The partnership will enable us to develop targeted training that meets the specific needs of our industry in a structured way so we can grow steadily and sustainably.”