The Trades That Build Britain and Ireland Are Running Short, and Why CAS Recruitment Is Casting a Wider Net

Walk past any active building site in the UK or Ireland today and you will see cranes, scaffolding and half-finished frames. What you will increasingly struggle to see is enough of the skilled hands needed to finish the job. The bricklayers, joiners, plasterers and tilers who quite literally build our homes, schools and hospitals are in shorter supply than at almost any point in living memory, and the gap is widening.

At CAS Recruitment, this is not an abstract industry statistic to us. It is the daily reality our clients describe: projects delayed, tenders declined and deadlines slipping, not for want of work or funding, but for want of people. That is why we are expanding how and where we source skilled tradespeople, reaching qualified candidates already here in the UK and Ireland while opening structured, compliant routes for skilled workers from overseas.

The scale of the problem

The numbers are stark. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimates that UK construction will need in the region of 206,000 additional workers by 2030, roughly 41,200 every single year, simply to keep pace with forecast demand. The reasons are structural, not cyclical. Too few people are entering the trades, too many experienced workers are leaving, and productivity gains have not been enough to close the difference.

Across the Irish Sea the picture rhymes. Ireland's ambitious housing and retrofit targets have created demand for tens of thousands of extra construction workers, with industry commentary pointing to a need for something on the order of 70,000 additional builders to deliver the homes and infrastructure the country has committed to. A sector that was hollowed out after 2008 is now being asked to scale faster than its current workforce allows.

Layered on top of the raw shortfall is an ageing workforce. A significant share of today's most experienced tradespeople are approaching retirement, with hundreds of thousands expected to leave the industry over the coming decade, and there are simply not enough apprentices and new entrants coming through behind them to replace that accumulated skill. The reduction in freedom of movement following Brexit has further narrowed one of the traditional supply channels that many firms had quietly relied upon for years.

The four trades under the most pressure

Not every role is equally affected. Four in particular sit at the sharp end of the shortage, because they are both highly skilled and structurally difficult to replace at speed.

Bricklayers are the backbone of residential and commercial construction. Brick-and-block remains the dominant building method across much of the UK and Ireland, yet the pipeline of newly qualified bricklayers has not kept pace with housing ambitions. When bricklayers are scarce, entire schemes stall at first-fix.

Joiners touch nearly every stage of a build, from structural carpentry to finish joinery. Demand for both site carpenters and bench joiners has climbed sharply, and the blend of precision and experience the role demands cannot be trained overnight.

Plasterers practise a genuine craft, and one where quality is immediately visible. As retrofit and refurbishment work grows alongside new build, demand for reliable, high-standard plasterers has outstripped the available pool in many regions.

Tilers are often underestimated. Tiling is a finishing trade where standards are unforgiving and rework is expensive. Good tilers are in consistent demand across housing, hospitality and commercial fit-out, and the shortage here is felt acutely on time-sensitive completions.

These are not roles that can be automated away or filled with a short course. They represent years of accumulated skill, which is precisely why the shortage bites so hard and why solving it requires a deliberate, well-run sourcing strategy.

The real cost of leaving roles unfilled

An unfilled vacancy is never just an empty slot on a rota. It is a compounding cost. Projects that overrun incur penalties and erode margins. Wage inflation follows scarcity, pushing up the cost of every skilled hour. Firms turn down profitable work simply because they cannot staff it. And when quality is rushed to meet deadlines with too few experienced hands, the cost resurfaces later as remedial work and reputational damage.

For clients across both markets, the message is consistent. The constraint on growth is no longer demand or capital. It is people.

How CAS Recruitment is responding

We believe the answer is not to compete harder over an ever-shrinking domestic pool, but to widen the pool responsibly, on two fronts.

First, in-country sourcing. There are skilled bricklayers, joiners, plasterers and tilers already in the UK and Ireland who are open to the right opportunity, whether that means better rates, steadier work, or a project that fits their skills. Our job is to find them, verify their credentials, and match them to employers who value what they bring. Deep, well-maintained candidate networks matter enormously here, and building them is core to what we do.

Second, overseas sourcing. Skilled trades are a genuinely global profession, and there are highly capable, qualified tradespeople abroad who are ready to bring their skills to UK and Irish sites. Sourcing internationally has to be done properly, with rigorous vetting of qualifications and on-site competence, full attention to right-to-work and sponsorship requirements, and honest, supportive handling of relocation. Done well, it does not undercut the domestic workforce. It complements it, easing the pressure on projects that would otherwise stall.

Bringing these two channels together lets us offer employers something increasingly rare: a reliable, compliant and scalable supply of the exact trades the industry is crying out for.

Building the workforce that builds everything else

The construction skills shortage across the UK and Ireland is real, it is structural, and it is not going to resolve itself. But it is solvable, with the right people, sourced from the right places, matched to the right roles.

If you are an employer struggling to staff a project, or a skilled tradesperson, here or overseas, looking for your next opportunity, we would welcome a conversation. CAS Recruitment is actively growing its network of bricklayers, joiners, plasterers and tilers on both sides of the Irish Sea, and we would be glad to help you build what comes next.

Get in touch with the CAS Recruitment team to discuss your workforce needs or your next role.

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