Eman Al-Hillawi, CEO at business change consultancy Entec Si, looks at how councils could improve housebuilding progress by re-aligning their workforce.
With Labour’s national targets set at 1.5 million new homes, councils are expected to ramp up housing delivery to 450,000 per year by 2028/29. Continuing in their housebuilding efforts, many councils face limited resources, tight budgets and reduced staff numbers, increasing the pressure on achieving these ambitious targets.
In an already uncertain time for local government, overly complex planning laws that remain subject to change at any moment only add further strain to time-consuming projects. Re-aligning the workforce and prioritising people holds real potential in streamlining these stagnant processes and could just be the catalyst needed to bolster local housebuilding.
Underpinning all housing initiatives is a combination of people, process and technology. Intertwined and inherently reliant on one another, investment into these areas is key for councils to progress any project. Local government should review their current processes and consider how re-aligning their workforce could be pivotal to hitting targets. With restricted budgets, however, it’s clear to see how this can slip through the cracks alongside the mounting pressure to build new homes.
People are a catalyst for change and investing in those who drive housing projects is two-fold – on one side, there is opportunity to improve internal processes to support employees, while on the other is investment into the practical roles that contribute to housebuilding such as for builders, plumbers and carpenters.
Targeted training programmes for these practical skills can help to increase workforce efficiency and address any skills shortages that may be present. When these aren’t addressed for long periods, skills gaps can create barriers to building new homes that become increasingly difficult to solve. By addressing these issues during the earlier stages of developments, obstacles such as additional repair work due to construction faults can be easily prevented.
Streamlining internal processes also holds value for reaching targets, freeing up staff capacity for higher-value tasks. Local housebuilding requires accurate, up-to-date asset data to ensure a smooth project delivery. For local councils, frequently reviewing the existing data processes currently in place will help offer the clarity that is needed to delegate tasks to staff most effectively. To ensure this is maintained, data handlers can be up-skilled and trained to support with the administrative side of the project.
Failing to address and fix internal data processes could lead to property management issues later down the line that could have been prevented. It might also feed into a cycle that sees staff spending excessive time undertaking administrative operations, rather than progressing new housing projects. Instead, updated housing management solutions, such as those on cloud-based rather than legacy systems, offer up-to-date insights, allowing councils to better maintain current stock, keep track of repairs and respond to issues as needed. In turn, this will free up staff capacity considerably, allowing efforts to be re-aligned on the task at hand, building new homes.
Continuing this endeavour to widen capacity across the board, councils shouldn’t shy away from investing in new technology. Digital tools and AI offer a host of benefits that can similarly free up workers’ time. Offering internal training alongside this ensures that staff properly adjust to new systems, providing long-term improvement in their ability to carry out a range of tasks with greater speed and accuracy.
Digital investment can also improve engagement between staff and local communities, with tools such as predictive analytics or website features that will allow councils to better understand local needs or concerns. Each community will have varying needs, and housebuilding cannot be implemented with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, despite the pressure of national targets. Utilising insights from these digital tools can optimise future developments by preventing repeated obstacles, saving time which workers can spend on more valuable tasks.
When it comes to hitting housing targets, local councils should consider prioritising budgets and investing in their people can provide long-term pay off. By freeing up restraints on time and resources, staff can re-focus their efforts on higher value tasks and be better prepped to support the country’s housebuilding ambitions. Investing in people should no longer be seen as an isolated expense in this case but understood as an investment into efficiency across the board, and the catalyst that local government needs to bring housing targets into closer reach.
