Rotheram joins 300 pupils at Liverpool City Region homebuilding careers event

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has joined 300 Year 8 and Year 9 pupils at Build Your Future 2026, a homebuilding careers event backed by more than 20 home builders, suppliers and subcontractors, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) said.

Pupils from around 30 schools across the Liverpool City Region took part, according to HBF. The participating organisations supplied more than 40 industry volunteers to show the range of careers involved in designing, planning, building and maintaining homes.

HBF said the event, titled Build Your Future 2026: Find Your Place in Homebuilding, was delivered by All About Futures in partnership with the Liverpool City Region Careers Hub, HBF, the National House Building Council (NHBC) and industry partners.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: "We've got big ambitions for housing and regeneration across our region, and we need to make sure local people have the skills and opportunities to be part of that future."

The skills gap

HBF framed the event against what it described as significant workforce challenges for the home building industry. According to the federation, more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs are supported for every 10,000 additional homes built, with bricklayers, groundworkers, plant operatives and plumbers among the occupations in particular demand.

HBF has also said that around 25% of the existing home building workforce is over 50 and that the sector faces an impending retirement cliff edge. In its event release, HBF cited Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) research putting the share of the current construction workforce aged 50 or over at 20-25%.

CITB said in June 2026 that too many experienced workers are leaving the sector, while its Industry Picture found too few people are entering it.

Andy George, Director of Industry Attraction and Skills at the Home Builders Federation, said: "Events like Build Your Future provide a valuable opportunity for students to meet employers, gain practical experience and explore career paths they may not have previously considered."

The wider programme

The event forms part of work between HBF and The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) on what both bodies call modern work experience. When the Liverpool City Region launched a national work experience pilot with CEC, Rotheram said too many pupils had for too long missed out on meaningful opportunities.

CEC's report Supporting a stronger pipeline, which brought together employers, industry leaders and Careers Hubs from across England, said construction is already one of the most popular career interests among young people. It cited CITB forecasts that the sector needs almost 48,000 additional workers a year to meet housing and infrastructure targets.

John Yarham, chief executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company, said modern work experience was about giving every young person the chance to meet employers and explore different careers.

Sector Skills Plan

Schools outreach is one of the commitments in HBF's Home Building Sector Skills Plan, developed with its members and partners, which pledges to maintain and enhance links with outreach programmes in schools and further education colleges.

HBF says that reaching 300,000 homes a year would need a 25% increase in recruitment, equal to 239,300 additional workers. The plan points to NHBC's £100m investment in 12 training hubs across the UK over the next 10 years, and to £600m of government funding to train 60,000 more construction workers.