The council is urging clients to sign up to a code of employment where those who contribute to a project are directly employed.

It argues this would ensure that it is in the employer’s best interest to train their staff and benefit from their improved productivity.

It is one of three key recommendations set out in a new report looking at how to deliver a construction pipeline of more than £600bn over the next decade, including at least £44 bn for housing.

Mark Reynolds, Skills Workstream Lead at the CLC said: “This important report clearly sets out the challenge the industry and our clients face and the actions that must be taken now to avoid significant skills shortages in the future.

“When we have seen projects with higher levels of direct employment the results are often better, the workforce more engaged and ultimately the client and end users are happier with the final product.”

The report also recommends that Smart Construction methods are encouraged through early design and procurement processes. This would create the demand for skilled employees which in turn drives employers to invest in training.

It also calls for industry qualifications and training to be updated to include Smart Construction techniques and behaviours with funding made available to accelerate adoption.

John O’Connor, Laing O’Rourke’s group commercial director and co-author of the report added: “Ours is a changing industry and we need to attract digitally literate talent into our sector, who are committed to delivering projects in a virtual environment, integrated with an offsite manufacturing-led approach.

“Positively promoting such skills in our sector will ensure we continue to innovate in a modern and smart construction environment.”