Mace Construct Report Calls for Workforce Stability to Boost Contract Productivity

Workforce turnover in the UK construction industry is costing the country £1.3bn every year through lost productivity, Mace Construct’s recent report shows. Large schemes in the UK’s infrastructure pipeline, from housing and schools to energy projects, are being delayed and made more expensive by rapid workforce churn in construction. 

Mace Construct’s report Build Smart, Build Better, based on data from more than 200 projects, shows that when workers leave large sites, projects lose significant value through lost knowledge, coordination and output. 

On projects with around 500 workers, high churn is linked to about £2,266 in lost output per hour across the site, rising to nearly £20,000 per hour on projects with around 2,000 workers. 

Over a typical 18-month, 500-worker scheme, that equates to roughly £5m in lost output. Across NISTA’s infrastructure pipeline, Mace Construct estimates the gap between high-churn and low-churn projects is worth around £1.3bn a year. 

The report calls for public clients to back firms that invest in stable employment, apprenticeships and workforce stability, and argues that better productivity depends on earlier decisions on design, procurement and delivery models. 

Productivity is determined before construction begins

Mace Construct’s analysis concludes that the biggest drivers of productivity are fixed before construction begins, not by site-level speed or individual worker effort. The report argues that productivity is effectively won or lost ‘before boots hit site’, with the strongest outcomes linked to early design decisions, supply chain integration, stable workforces and digitally enabled delivery models. 

A major opportunity for the sector

The report comes as the Government commits hundreds of billions of pounds towards housing, transport, energy and social infrastructure over the next decade, including through the UK’s long-term infrastructure pipeline. 

Mark Reynolds (CBE), Executive Chairman at Mace Construct, said: ‘Britain has a big infrastructure pipeline ahead of it, but we will not deliver it efficiently if we continue to treat construction labour as endlessly replaceable. This report shows that workforce churn is not just a people issue, it is a productivity issue, a delivery issue, and a cost issue for the whole country.

‘All of us – clients, contractors, and Government – need to create the right conditions for firms to invest in permanent workforce capacity, direct employment, and apprenticeships. If procurement rewards companies that build and retain skilled teams, the sector will respond.’

The report’s conclusions could help to support finishing trades, such as the flooring sector, in completing their vital work. The advocacy for earlier contractor engagement appears to prompt greater opportunity for specialist contractors to coordinate on project design, whilst resolving access and sequencing issues before site work begins. In addition, the support for a stable workforce indicates the growing sector demand for training and competence. Finally, a take-home message of the report is that the industry should be structured to reward productivity, which would benefit trustworthy, professional specialist contractors.

Recommendations for industry and Government

The report argues that if the UK is serious about delivering its long-term infrastructure ambitions, the industry will need to move beyond repeated productivity reviews and instead focus on structural reforms. 

Among its recommendations, the report calls for: 

• Earlier design-stage decisions on procurement, modern methods of construction and digital coordination, with productivity treated as a commitment point before work starts on site. 
• Procurement reform that makes collaborative delivery, early contractor involvement and productivity governance the standard for major schemes. 
• Better use of the Government incentives to support standardisation, off-site manufacturing and wider industrialisation across repeatable programmes. 
• A stronger focus on workforce stability, direct employment, apprenticeships and retention in the roles that matter most to productivity. 
• A step change in productivity measurement, including Mace Construct’s commitment to publish independently audited productivity figures annually and target a year-on-year improvement path to 2030. 

macegroup.com