If construction is serious about closing the skills gap, it must look beyond recruitment targets and career development pathways and confront a deeper structural issue: mental health is not a separate wellbeing agenda; it sits at the centre of how the industry works, how people experience it, and whether they choose to stay.

The scale of the challenge is well known. Construction continues to experience high levels of ill-health, burnout and suicide compared with many other sectors, while forecasts from bodies such as the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) show sustained workforce demand across housing, healthcare and infrastructure. Despite years of policy attention on apprenticeships and immigration, the industry is still struggling to retain experienced people.