Overview

The purpose of this labour analysis is to quantify the construction workforce required to support the work of the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce and to understand the low‑carbon skills needed for Central London’s transition to a sustainable commercial built environment. The research examines construction pipelines across 12 London boroughs, modelling demand by occupation and identifying the skills profile needed for commercial new‑build, repair and maintenance, and large‑scale retrofit.

Key findings

• Labour demand is significant across all commercial work, with detailed modelling showing demand growth in both traditional and low‑carbon occupations.

• Commercial retrofit will sharply increase demand for low‑carbon skills, particularly in building services, insulation, digital building assessment, energy performance, and efficient systems installation.

• Workforce shortages are already visible, with London construction vacancies remaining consistently high and some boroughs experiencing a mismatch between where workers live and where work is located.

• Education and training supply is not yet aligned with the scale of low‑carbon skills needs; further education enrolments and apprenticeship starts lag behind emerging demand areas.

• Meeting net zero targets will require significant upskilling, including retraining of existing workers in retrofit, digital diagnostics, assembly, and modern building technologies.

Next steps

Central London’s commercial sustainability ambitions will not be achieved without rapid action to develop a skilled workforce capable of delivering low‑carbon construction and retrofit.

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