Government failure to tackle crisis is “unacceptable” as SCS calls for new construction chief

40,000 more jobs are to be lost in the construction industry this year, according to a new estimate from the Society of Chartered Surveyors.

The President of the Society of Chartered Surveyors, Ken Cribbin described the government’s failure to tackle the unemployment crisis in the sector as “totally unacceptable”.

The new figures mean that the number employed in the sector may fall to under 100,000 having been as high as 267,000 as recently as 2007.

In his speech at the SCS’s annual dinner Cribbin pointed out that while the government had taken action to tackle the banking crisis and to stabilise the public finances it had failed dismally to provide leadership to the property and construction industry and the wider economy had suffered as a result. “As a matter of urgency the Government needs to tackle this unemployment crisis. That involves real political leadership and engagement and we need it now,” Cribbin said.

The SCS called on the government to appoint a Chief Adviser to head a new Construction Industry Consultative Council. This body would be tasked with promoting a sustainable industry over the medium to long term.

“At present responsibility for the Public Capital Programme is dispersed across nearly all government departments. A “Construction Chief” would oversee the delivery of the Public Capital Programme and take advantage of the lowest tender prices in a decade to get this sector and the country’s economy working again,” he said.

Cribbin pointed out that at an optimum level of output, the sector could support direct employment for 150,000 people.