The UK’s construction industry faces “inexorable decline” unless radical steps are taken according to an independent review commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The Farmer Review, led by Mark Farmer, Chief Executive of Cast, a real estate and construction consultancy, paints a gloomy picture of the construction industry, which according to the report is blighted by low productivity, a lack innovation, an ageing workforce, and a general absence of a culture that drives forward research and development.

Farmer has put forward a ten-point plan to modernise the industry and boost housebuilding, which includes:

- Using the residential development sector as a pilot programme to drive forward the large scale use of pre-manufactured construction.

- The construction of 50,000 pre-manufactured homes a year, on top of 160,000 traditional homes.

- The incentivisation of institutional development and investment in the private rented sector; the promotion of more pre-manufactured social house building through registered providers and  direct commissioning of pre-manufactured housing.

- The government to use its education, fiscal, housing and planning policy measures to initiate change and create the right conditions that will support the construction sector’s modernisation.

- A possible tax of 0.5% of a scheme’s construction cost on businesses that commission work that does not support industry innovation and skills development.

The Farmer Review provides a timely reminder of the work that needs to be done to reinvigorate a vital sector, and overcome the ticking timebomb posed by a shrinking workforce, which could decline by 20-25% within a decade.

The Autumn Statement and imminent government White Paper on housing delivery will be the first opportunity to see how ministers intend to respond. However in order to truly combat this growing problem action is required across the board, including reform to education and apprenticeship, taxation, the planning system and importantly confirmation on the UK’s immigration policy.

Let’s hope that the government is up to the task.