A call for evidence has been launched by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) on how to tackle the UK's housing crisis.

The organisation is working as part of the Government-led National Housing Taskforce to examine skills, materials and new technology in the housing sector.

The Taskforce, which includes the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Housing and Planning, is covering every element from planning reform to housing associations, construction skills and mortgage finance.

A total of 12 distinct areas of work will be examined and each work-stream is being led by a relevant organisation who will submit recommendations to the Taskforce later this year.

Features of CIOB's work-stream includes addressing the main issues in the construction labour market, such as availability, productivity and diversity. The organisation will also examine new materials/technology in the sector, primarily off-site manufacture and modern methods of construction (MMC), including how they link to skills.

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CIOB Policy Manager, David Hawkes, said: "At its most basic level, what this work-stream boils down to is capacity. Studies have shown the housing sector needs 120,000 new employees just to meet the required annual level of homes the UK needs. At the same time, house builders say they cannot build more than 150,000 homes per year via conventional means.

"What this suggests to us is that something needs to fundamentally change if we are to properly address the housing crisis. We need more people working more productively and we have to work out how best to utilise and implement new technologies, materials and processes.

"The CIOB will be working closely with MPs and industry experts to analyse the responses we receive. We'll then host a number of inquiry-style discussions to hone in on the most relevant evidence and submit our recommendations to the National Housing Taskforce by the end of the year."

The final National Housing Taskforce report on recommendations from all 12 work-streams is expected to be released by Spring 2017. Evidence must be submitted by 5pm on Friday, 09 September.

The CIOB's call for evidence can be found here.

(LM)