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Our website is a hugely popular digital scaffolding resource. Launched back in 2009, ScaffMag has grown in popularity to become the industry’s leading source for the latest independent trade news, current affairs, scaffolding jobs and profiling the very best from our sector.
ScaffMag gives businesses and brands an unrivalled opportunity to advertise their products or services 24 hours a day 7 days a week to a highly targeted audience. Our readership includes main and sub-contractors, manufacturers, consultants, scaffolders and many others. We offer print and digital advertising opportunities across desktop, mobile and tablet channels.
During 2023 we welcomed over 250,000 individual users to the site, generating over 760,000 pageviews. We remain amongst our industry the most followed and liked company on social media with more than 132,000 followers on Facebook alone.
– Daniel Norton, Editor of ScaffMag
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We provide businesses and brands an unrivalled opportunity to advertise their products or services 24 hours a day 7 days a week to a highly targeted audience.
For a full list of website advertising opportunities with ScaffMag please contact us and download our 2024 Media Pack.
Our Daily Download and Weekly Rundown email newsletter is essential reading for thousands of scaffolding professionals. They are sent to more than 7,200 people providing a unique reach into companies across the country and the world. The newsletter enjoys an above-average open rate for the construction sector of 38% and our list is constantly updated to only include regular readers. Our subscriber database can be made available to selected clients for direct marketing in the form of an Email Blast.
EMAIL SPONSORSHIP ScaffMag offers email sponsorship in our daily and weekly round-up emails in the form of a banner advertisement contained within the newsletter Email Banner: £300.00pcm
EMAIL BLAST ScaffMag give’s businesses and industry service providers the ability to send out their very own promotional email co-branded with ScaffMag to our database of subscribers. Email Blast: £400.00 per campaign
Interested in learning more about advertising with us? Drop us a line on 01472 476024 or email [email protected]
As a natural progression for both our loyal readership and our scaffold sector advertising customers, we have launched the ScaffMag magazine – a fresh, slick, modern, vibrant and engaging product to enjoy and to back up our ScaffMag.com community and social media following, which advertisers in the magazine can tap their brand into. Created with both the scaffolder and contractor in mind, The ScaffMag Magazine gives businesses and brands an unrivalled opportunity to advertise their products or services 24:7:365 to a large, rapidly expanding and highly-targeted audience. It’s a unique proposition in digital and print.
“The new issue of Scaffmag is packed with great articles and opinions. We’re very lucky in our industry to have such a great support and loudspeaker for everything we do! Thanks as always to Daniel Norton for putting such great content together.” – Des Moore
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ScaffMag continues to dominate the social media networks within our industry with the most liked/followed Facebook page in the sector. At the time of writing this, ScaffMag’s official page has 135,000+ followers and 81,000+ likes.
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The London ambulance service said: “An investigation has been launched after two men were injured after scaffolding attached to Hammersmith town hall collapsed late on Wednesday afternoon.
“Officers from the Metropolitan police attended along with firefighters.”
Tube-Lock® tubes are regular 48,3mm scaffolding tubes, fitted with two cast iron Tube-Lock pieces. Because of the Tube-Lock ends, tubes can be connected with each other by a twisting motion, visibly locking them in place. No tools nor additional parts are required to make or secure the connection.
This provides many advantages.
Because the two tubes can be joined by a twisting motion, it is a fast and easy way to connect tubes together. This leads to faster erection and dismantling times for the entire scaffold.
Furthermore, no additional parts nor tools are needed. No longer needing sleeve couplers and joint pins means that there are no spare parts that need to be transported. Additionally, you don’t have to invest in sleeve couplers and joint pins as you no longer need them.
This also eliminates the risk of sleeve couplers breaking, getting lost or getting stolen. And you don’t have to service the sleeve couplers anymore. Tube-Lock connections are completely maintenance-free.
Another logistical advantage is that Tube-Lock comes in standard lengths from 1 meter or 4ft up to 4 meters or 13ft. Because of this flexibility, it prevents the necessity of cutting the tubes to length.
The maximum length of 4 meters means the maximum weight of a Tube-Lock tube is 16 kg. This leads to less strain on scaffolders, which is essential because of the strict Occupational Health and Safety regulations.
Additionally, there is no need to stagger joints, Tube-Lock is as strong as a continuous tube. The connection may even be submitted to pull force. Using Tube-Lock tubes leads to a smooth tube connection over the full length of the tube. This makes it possible to use couplers anywhere on the tube. Even on the Tube-Lock connection.
In their innovative production facility, they can turn your (used) scaffolding tube to Tube-Lock tubes! This means you can update your own material without enormous investments. Even the repair of existing Tube-Lock stock is possible. And they now offer a special discount on the conversion of your scaffolding tube!
Have a look at www.thielscaffolding.com for more information, or contact [email protected] to hear more about all possibilities!
As Des Moore approaches his 70th birthday, he is not interested in nostalgia. After more than 50 years in scaffolding, from the tools to senior management and board-level roles, he is still focused on what comes next. The industry has improved in many ways, he says, but there is still work to do on safety, professionalism, training, leadership and commercial discipline.
Moore started out as a scaffolder in the 1970s, moved through contracts and branch management, led TRAD through a long period of growth, and later served in senior industry roles including as NASC President. Today, through his consultancy firm, MOR1X, he remains active across the sector, advising businesses and working with firms including MR Scaffolding Services, Baton and ULMA
He remains positive about the future. He is also blunt about what scaffolding still gets wrong.
Health and safety has seen the biggest change of his career. “There has been a significant and necessary improvement in health and safety,” he says. “Scaffolding can be dangerous if safe practices are not adopted.”
Standards on site, though, are still uneven. Thousands of contractors operate across the UK, and the gap between the best-run firms and the rest is too wide. Larger businesses can afford dedicated health and safety support. Smaller firms often cannot. Basic standards still aren’t being applied consistently.
“I walk past sites where there are scaffolders wearing harnesses that are not attached, or who don’t even have a lanyard on the harness. It’s just for show,” Moore says. “That is literally an accident waiting to happen.”
Part of the problem, he argues, is poor communication. Scaffolders get handed long, generic RAMS documents that do little to explain the actual risks of the job in front of them. He wants more direct briefings, led by line managers, with a one-page summary of the main risks on site.
He is also critical of weak near-miss reporting and a lingering macho culture in parts of the industry.
“These are learning moments,” he says. “But there is still not enough guidance on what a near miss looks like and why it matters. We have to move away from that macho image and create a culture where people feel safe.”
If safety is a live issue, recruitment sits behind almost every conversation about scaffolding’s future.
Too few young people see the trade as a serious career, Moore says, and that is one of the industry’s biggest long-term problems.
“That’s what happened to me,” he says. “I fell into scaffolding after leaving school with no qualifications. The industry has been incredibly good to me. It gave me opportunities I could not have imagined at the time. But too many young people still don’t see scaffolding as something to aim for.”
The sector has not done enough to present itself as professional, skilled and ambitious. That matters when businesses are trying to attract the next generation, not just of scaffolders but of supervisors, managers, estimators and commercial staff.
There are signs of progress. Some firms are bringing people through in a more structured way. At MR Scaffolding Services, where Moore works with the business on training and development, trainee estimator and surveyor programmes are giving young people a route into the sector beyond the yard gate. Trainees spend time in the yard, in transport and on site before moving into office-based roles. That kind of grounding gives people a proper understanding of how a scaffolding business actually works.
He points to leaders like Rob West at Benchmark Scaffolding and Luis McCarthy at JMAC Group as examples of people raising standards and building a stronger culture in their businesses.
If scaffolding wants better people, it has to look and behave like a profession that values them. That means stronger recruitment, better training, visible career paths and a more serious approach to management.
The same themes keep surfacing in his work with contractors. Project delays, the wider economy, cash management and pricing.
On delays, Gateway 2 and 3 approvals continue to disrupt larger projects. Firms are left pricing jobs without a clear idea of when work will actually begin, and that uncertainty spills into labour planning, resource allocation and cashflow.
The wider economic picture is no easier. Housebuilding remains under pressure. Confidence and investment are affected. None of that is new to experienced contractors, but it still creates difficult trading conditions for firms trying to plan ahead.
Cash management is the point Moore returns to most often. During his time leading TRAD, cash was never treated as a back-office issue. It was central to how the business was run.
“I could be in a meeting with Mohed Altrad about something completely unrelated and within 15 minutes he would ask me about the cash position,” he says. “He understood how important that was.”
Then there is pricing. Parts of the market continue to quote work too cheaply, often without a real understanding of what makes a job profitable or unprofitable. It damages margins, distorts value and weakens the reputation of the sector.
Many of these problems come back to management.
Too many businesses still lack the basic control systems needed to understand what is happening on jobs. Where money is being made. Where it is being lost. That applies to pricing, labour, transport, materials and planning. It is also why Moore has become a strong supporter of digital tools that help firms get a better grip on operations.
“As someone who is now involved with Baton, I do see the value of technology very clearly,” he says. “What surprises me is how many leaders still do not know which jobs have made money, which have lost money, and why.”
Technology, he argues, should not be seen as a nice extra. It should be used to make better decisions. If a client says a site needs six scaffolders, a well-run business should be able to test that assumption, plan properly, and decide whether four would do the job just as well. That is productivity in practice, a commercial discipline as much as a technical one.
Asked what successful scaffolding businesses will need to do over the next three to five years, Moore comes back first to training. Not just basic site training. Not just apprenticeships. Training across the whole business.
Management training, in particular, is still badly neglected. Business performance often depends more on the quality of managers than on anything else.
“I cannot over-emphasise the importance of training all your staff,” he says. “Managers direct how well, or not, the business performs.”
He still values hands-on leadership and has little patience for managers who run teams from behind a screen. Face-to-face communication matters. Managers need to be visible. They need to understand what is happening in the business at ground level. Emails and WhatsApp groups are no substitute for being present.
He is equally firm on productivity. The industry has tolerated low productivity for too long. Better systems can help measure it, but the bigger shift is cultural. Businesses need to care about it, track it, and manage around it.
Moore also expects system scaffolding to play a bigger role in the years ahead. The initial investment can be high, he accepts, but the long-term return is there for firms that use it properly and understand the commercial case. That thinking sits behind his current work with ULMA as it builds the presence of the BRIO metric system in the UK market.
The issue, for him, is not just product but support. Manufacturers need to do more than supply equipment and deliver technical training. They also need to help contractors understand how to get better business results from the systems they buy. Some suppliers still fall short on that.
For all the problems he identifies, Moore is not pessimistic. Scaffolding is full of good businesses, hard-working people, and leaders who care about improving standards. But the sector cannot afford to drift.
It needs to take safety more seriously at every level. It needs to present itself better to new entrants. It needs stronger managers, better pricing, tighter commercial control and more willingness to adopt the tools that improve performance.
Above all, it needs to move now.
“The next five years are critical,” he says. “Change needs to happen in the next five years, not the next fifty.”
After half a century in scaffolding, Moore is still looking ahead. The industry already knows much of what it needs to do. The real question is whether enough businesses are willing to do it.
AT-PAC has expanded its marketing partnership with Petite Agency to cover parts of its European operation.
The scaffolding and access supplier said the Teesside agency will support activity across Germany, Sweden and the Benelux region, following its work with AT-PAC in the UK over the past year.
The appointment includes social media planning, content production and brand communications.
Petite Agency was founded in 2020 by director Sophia Gowland. The business works with construction, property and professional services clients, focusing on social media strategy, content and personal brand support.
AT-PAC said a recent content project in Sweden, focused on a large temporary weather protection structure, helped lead to the expanded agreement.
Andrew Boynton, AT-PAC’s Regional Director for Europe, said Petite Agency had helped the business communicate the scale of its work in the UK and would now support its European teams.
AT-PAC operates in more than 20 countries as part of umdasch Industrial Solutions. Its services include scaffold rental and sales, engineering, design and digital scaffold management software.
Scaffolding contractors across much of England are being urged to act on heat risk this week after the UK Health Security Agency issued red heat-health alerts for six regions.
The alerts cover London, the East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, South East and South West. They begin at 1am on Wednesday 24 June and remain in place until 11pm on Thursday 25 June.
Amber alerts apply in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Red is the highest level on the UKHSA’s heat-health alert scale. It means severe impacts are both likely and expected, including for people who would not usually be considered at high risk.
Temperatures are forecast to reach the high 30s, with some forecasts putting peaks close to 40C in parts of England during Wednesday and Thursday.
The Health and Safety Executive has reminded construction employers that heat must be assessed as a workplace hazard.
There is no legal maximum temperature for work. But employers still have duties under health and safety law to assess the risks to workers and take reasonable steps to control them.
That matters on scaffolding sites, where physically demanding work, direct sun, reflective surfaces, heavy clothing and PPE can all make heat stress more likely.
HSE says employers should consider practical controls including more frequent rest breaks, shaded welfare areas, free access to cool drinking water and earlier starts or later finishes where site arrangements allow.
John Rowe, HSE’s deputy director for technical support and engagement, said: “Last summer should have been a wake-up call for all employers.
“If we continue to experience hotter summers this could have a big impact on the workforce of this country, affecting everything from health of workers to productivity on construction sites.”
Heat exhaustion can cause tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headaches, muscle cramps, nausea, heavy sweating and intense thirst.
Workers with these symptoms should be moved to a cooler place, given fluids and monitored.
Heatstroke is more serious. Signs can include confusion, poor coordination, rapid breathing, a fast heartbeat, hot skin that is not sweating and seizures.
Heatstroke is a medical emergency. Anyone suspected of having heatstroke should be cooled down while another person calls 999.
For scaffold contractors, the immediate issue is planning. Supervisors should check that welfare facilities are usable, water is readily available, break arrangements are realistic and workers know when to raise concerns.
NASC has launched a new TG4 User Guide and poster to support the safe installation and testing of scaffold anchor ties.
The two documents sit alongside TG4:25 Anchorage Systems for Scaffolding, which was issued in 2025 and sets out technical guidance on tie loads, anchor selection, proof testing and related work.
The new additions are aimed at bringing that information closer to the people responsible for ties on site, including scaffolders, supervisors and project teams.
James Attridge, chair of the NASC Technical Committee, said scaffold ties were central to the stability of many structures.
“Façade access and other scaffolding configurations are typically tall and narrow and therefore rely on secure attachment to a permanent building or structure to maintain stability,” he said.
“To achieve this, anchors are often installed into existing masonry or concrete structures to provide an effective means of tying.”
The TG4 User Guide is an A6 booklet aimed at scaffolders who install and test drilled and cast-in anchors.
It covers the main factors involved in fixing anchors, including the checks and precautions needed to protect their integrity. NASC said it was designed as a pocket reference for those carrying out the work.
TG4:25 remains the main technical document. It covers the selection, installation and management of scaffolding anchorage systems, including preliminary testing where the suitability of an anchor in a base material is uncertain.
It also sets out proof-testing requirements. NASC says a sample of anchors must be tested on each project, with at least 5% selected at random and a minimum of 3 anchors tested in each separate area.
An A2 TG4 poster has also been issued for use on site.
It states that anchor ties are needed to maintain scaffold stability and prevent structural failure or collapse. A QR code directs users to further NASC information.
The release reflects a familiar site risk. Anchor ties can appear routine, but errors in anchor selection, drilling, installation or testing can affect the stability of the whole scaffold.
The new documents are available through the NASC website.
Scaffolding firms are being urged to review hot-weather controls as an amber heat-health alert remains in force across large parts of England.
The alert covers London, the South East, South West and East of England until 8pm on Tuesday 23 June. Yellow alerts are also in place for the East Midlands and West Midlands.
The warnings come as temperatures are expected to rise again over the weekend, with hot and humid conditions forecast across parts of the country.
For scaffold contractors, the issue is not simply comfort. Heavy physical work, direct sunlight, limited shade and PPE can quickly increase the risk of dehydration, fatigue and reduced concentration.
That matters on sites where workers are handling materials, climbing lifts or carrying out work at height.
The UK Health Security Agency said the amber alert reflects the likely effect of sustained high temperatures on health and social care services, particularly for people who are more vulnerable to heat.
The alerts are not a legal warning requiring sites to stop work. But they provide a clear signal for employers to reassess conditions and make sure controls are in place before temperatures peak.
The Health and Safety Executive says employers must assess temperature-related risks for outdoor workers and put suitable controls in place.
Its guidance includes moving work to cooler parts of the day where possible, providing more frequent rest breaks, making shade available, and ensuring workers have free access to cool drinking water.
The HSE also advises firms to make sure workers understand the early signs of heat stress, including loss of concentration, cramps, severe thirst and fainting.
The UK has no legal maximum working temperature for outdoor workers.
Employers are still required to protect workers from adverse weather and assess risks under general health and safety law. That places the responsibility on contractors to decide when conditions require changed working hours, additional breaks, altered tasks or extra supervision.
For scaffold firms, planning needs to go beyond a reminder to drink water.
Supervisors should consider which tasks involve the heaviest physical effort, which areas of the site have little shade, and whether workers can take genuine breaks away from direct sun and heat radiating from steel, concrete or plant.
PPE also needs attention. Required protection cannot be compromised, but firms should consider whether lighter and more breathable compliant options are available for hot conditions.
The alert comes as tradesman insurer Protectivity publishes research claiming that June contains 5 of the 10 calendar dates most likely to see temperatures reach 27°C or above during working hours.
The company’s analysis identified 20 June as the second highest-risk date in its dataset, behind 12 August.
Protectivity examined historical weather data across UK cities, counting days where temperatures reached 27°C or more for at least 2 hours between 6am and 6pm.
Its research placed St Albans at the top of its ranking with 47 days above that level. The City of London followed with 45 days, while Oxford and Cambridge recorded 37 each.
The figures are company analysis rather than an official heat-risk ranking. But they support the wider point that hot-weather planning cannot wait until July or August.
Chris Trotman, underwriting manager at Protectivity, said: “Five of the 10 most dangerous dates in our dataset fall in June, and yet June is often when sites are running at full capacity with no particular heat protocols in place.
“Self-employed tradespeople in particular, who make up the largest self-employed workforce of any sector in the UK, have no employer to mandate rest breaks or enforce a heat policy on their behalf.”
The most useful response is practical.
Firms should check forecasts before shifts begin, schedule demanding work for cooler parts of the day where possible, provide easy access to water and shaded rest areas, and make sure supervisors are watching for early signs of heat stress.
Workers returning from time away or new to physically demanding work may also need time to adjust to hotter conditions.
Hot weather does not automatically mean work must stop. But where temperatures, humidity, workload and PPE combine to affect a worker’s health or ability to work safely, firms need to act.
AT-PAC has opened a new branch in Darwin, Northern Territory, giving contractors in northern Australia local access to scaffold stock, rental equipment and technical support.
The company said the branch will support projects across oil and gas, mining, energy, infrastructure, defence and marine sectors.
The site is in Berrimah, around 15 minutes from Darwin city centre, according to AT-PAC Australia and Pacific.
AT-PAC said holding Ringlock system scaffold locally should reduce delivery times for customers working on remote and industrial sites across the Northern Territory and nearby regions.
The Darwin operation will provide scaffold sales and rental, alongside engineering input and project planning support.
For contractors, the practical benefit is having material closer to site. Northern Australia’s industrial projects can involve long transport distances, particularly where scaffold requirements change during a job.
AT-PAC said the branch will be staffed locally and backed by its wider Australian supply and engineering network.
The Darwin opening follows AT-PAC’s recent expansion in Adelaide. The company has also operated branches in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Gladstone.
AT-PAC became part of Umdasch Industrial Solutions in 2025, following its earlier integration into the Umdasch Group.
The company said its Australian branch network is intended to give industrial customers quicker access to equipment and technical support where major projects are taking place.
JR Scaffold Services has completed a specialist scaffold and temporary roof project at the B-listed Walton Building at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
The Scottish contractor installed custom-designed double-gabled scaffolding on each side of the building before forming a temporary roof to support essential roof renovation works.
The project required a multi-stage plan due to the building’s location within a live hospital site. Roads around the work area had to remain open throughout to allow safe access for pedestrians, traffic, ambulances and deliveries.
The Walton Building is also within the Glasgow Central Conservation Area and sits above a historic tunnel system. As a result, the scaffold base had to be designed as a non-load bearing solution to keep weight off the areas above the tunnels.
The access design was produced by Gallery Access Solutions, with support from Coltart Earley Architecture.
The solution used the base as a foundation for the double-gabled scaffold, with the structure built off beams to deal with limited access around the building.
Once the scaffold was in place, the team installed a temporary roof that could be rolled over the Walton Building roof safely. Materials were moved up the structure using an electric palletiser, which helped raise materials part-way up the building.
JR Scaffold Services said Contracts Director John Jack led the project, supported by several experienced members of its scaffold team.
Evan Horne, Estimator for JR Scaffold Services, said the company had taken on a wider role than is usual for a scaffolding business.
“We were the lead contractor on this particular project, which is quite unusual for a scaffolding company,” he said.
“However, we took these new challenges in our stride, looking after aspects of the project such as construction phase plans, traffic management plans and providing assets including signage and welfare facilities for our trade contractors.
“We worked closely with the client and our partners, and, despite the unique and complex challenges of this particular project, we delivered the job on time and, most importantly safely.”
JR Scaffold Services also carried out project-specific training before the site works began.
The company recreated the designed scaffold solution at its own yard to help newer scaffolders understand the temporary roof arrangement before working on the live hospital site.
Some team members were also sent to other temporary roof projects, including work at St Fillan’s Church in Houston, to build further experience before the Glasgow project.
Owen Stoney, Temporary Roof Advisor for JR Scaffold Services, said: “Because of the size and complexity of this job, we thought it was important to provide familiarisation and awareness training for our whole team.
“We built the gabled scaffold in our new yard and replicated the structure they were going to be building on in Glasgow.
“This allowed our team to work with the materials before they went live on site, giving them an understanding and awareness of how the structure would come together.
“We worked closely with the architects and designers to ensure that everything was set up in a way that provided safe access for the work to take place, while also protecting those using the areas surrounding the site.”
The UK construction industry will need an average of 41,200 extra workers each year between 2026 and 2030 to meet expected demand, according to new figures from the Construction Industry Training Board.
CITB’s latest Construction Workforce Outlook predicts that construction activity will remain weak in 2026 before growth returns from 2027.
The annual report, published on 17 June, sets out expected construction demand over the next 5 years and the impact this could have on the industry’s workforce.
It forecasts UK construction output growth of -0.2% in 2026, before rising to 1.8% in 2027 and 2.8% in 2028. Growth is then expected to ease slightly, with forecasts of 2.3% in 2029 and 2.1% in 2030.
The strongest average annual growth over the period is expected in public new housing, at 3.6%. Infrastructure and private new housing are both forecast to grow by 2.5% a year on average.
The forecast supports recent market data from Glenigan, which also pointed to a recovery in construction starts from 2027 after a difficult start to 2026.
Scaffmag reported earlier this week that Glenigan expects UK construction starts to fall by 1% in 2026 before rising by 11% in 2027 and a further 4% in 2028.
Glenigan’s forecast also said activity could be 13% higher than 2025 levels by the end of its forecast period, with stronger pipelines expected in housing, public sector work, civils and utilities.
Taken together, the 2 reports point to the same pressure point for contractors: workloads are expected to recover, but the industry may not have enough skilled workers ready when demand returns.
For scaffolding and access contractors, that creates a familiar problem. A stronger market from 2027 would bring more tender opportunities, but it would also increase pressure on labour, training and supervision.
CITB estimates the UK construction workforce stood at 2,606,380 in 2025. It is forecast to rise to 2,681,800 by 2030.
But the report says growth alone does not tell the full story. The industry also needs to replace workers leaving construction and deal with regional and occupational gaps.
Across the 5-year period, CITB says the sector will need about 206,000 additional workers. That is equal to 1.6% of the 2025 workforce each year.
The forecast comes after a difficult period for construction, with short-term uncertainty and cost pressures continuing to affect activity.
CITB said the industry faces a difficult balance: dealing with current business pressures while making sure it has enough skilled workers to meet future demand.
Tim Balcon, CITB chief executive, said the Outlook gives industry and government the evidence needed to plan for future skills demand.
“Our latest Construction Workforce Outlook highlights where construction skills demand is expected to grow, offering the evidence needed to guide workforce and skills planning in a period of significant opportunity and challenge,” he said.
“The construction industry is faced with balancing short-term business uncertainty while ensuring there are enough skilled workers to meet the expected demand for longer-term opportunities.
“Together, alongside government and industry stakeholders, we can ensure the construction industry is equipped to deliver for the UK’s future.”
The Outlook also links the workforce issue to wider delivery targets, including housing, infrastructure and retrofit work.
CITB said too few people are entering construction, too many experienced workers are leaving, and productivity gains have not been enough to close the gap.
The report follows recent government announcements on construction training, including a £600m investment package and wider support through youth employment and jobs schemes.
Mark Reynolds CBE, co-chair of the Construction Skills Mission Board, said the report gives employers a clearer view of the workforce needed across key trades and professions.
He said it showed “significant demand for new people to join our industry” and should give employers more confidence to recruit and train new entrants.
Mark Farmer, a member of the Construction Skills Mission Board and the Construction Leadership Council, said the industry still had to deal with weak trading conditions while preparing for future demand.
“The latest Construction Workforce Outlook published by CITB indicates that despite industry currently grappling with challenging economic conditions, longer-term needs to replenish and sustainably grow the workforce remain,” he said.
“Bridging the gap between current capacity to employ and train and the imperative to build a future ready workforce remains the central challenge.”
CITB has produced the Construction Workforce Outlook since 2006/07. The latest report includes UK-wide data, national and regional forecasts, an interactive tool and downloadable reports.
Tickets and tables for the 2026 Scaffolding Excellence Awards are now on sale, with the gala evening due to take place on Friday 11 September in Manchester.
The awards will be held as part of ScaffEx26, which returns to Manchester Central on 10 and 11 September.
The annual dinner brings together scaffolding contractors, suppliers, manufacturers, training providers and other industry figures for one of the main social events in the sector’s calendar.
This year’s ceremony will be hosted by comedian and broadcaster Dara Ó Briain, best known for Mock the Week, Blockbusters, Robot Wars and Stargazing Live.
The 2026 awards will use the same 9 categories as last year, covering projects, design, products, services, apprenticeships and long-term contribution to the scaffolding and access industry.
One change has been made for this year’s event. The Apprentice of the Year Award has been renamed the Wayne Connolly Apprentice of the Year Award, in memory of the former NASC president and CISRS chairman, who died in December 2025.
The move recognises Connolly’s long service to the sector, including his work around training and standards.
Judging will be chaired by Dr James MacFadden, senior responsible CSA engineer at Sellafield.
Dr MacFadden said the 2025 entries had shown a strong standard across project delivery, leadership and teamwork.
He said the awards were a way to recognise “hard work and professionalism that often goes unseen”.
He added that he was pleased to chair the judging panel again, with experts from across the industry involved in the process.
Tickets and tables are available now here, with organisers expecting demand to be high.
UK construction activity is expected to recover from 2027 after a difficult start to the year, according to Glenigan’s Summer 2026 Construction Forecast.
The report predicts underlying project starts, covering schemes under £100m, will fall by 1% in 2026 before rising by 11% in 2027 and a further 4% in 2028.
That would leave activity 13% higher than 2025 levels by the end of the forecast period.
Glenigan said the short-term picture remains weak, with investors and developers reassessing planned schemes following a volatile six months for the UK and global economy.
But the construction intelligence firm expects improving economic conditions, stronger public spending and renewed private investment to support a wider recovery from next year.
Allan Wilen, economics director at Glenigan, said the sector had faced “a turbulent few months”, with projects being reviewed and rescheduled.
He said activity was expected to strengthen from 2027 as confidence returns across private and public sector markets.
“There are some particularly exciting growth areas as Government funding is released and investor appetite starts to return to the market,” he said.
“Contractors will need to be quick off the mark as more favourable conditions are finally felt.”
Education and health are forecast to be among the stronger areas of growth.
Education project starts are expected to rise by 8% in 2026, followed by 20% growth in 2027 and a further 5% in 2028.
Glenigan said school construction will continue to dominate, supported by clearer funding for rebuilding and refurbishment work across ageing education estates.
Health work is also forecast to recover. Starts are expected to rise by 9% this year, another 9% in 2027 and 14% in 2028.
The forecast points to increased capital funding, deferred NHS schemes and work linked to estate repairs, diagnostic hubs and community care facilities.
Civil engineering activity is expected to remain flat in 2026 before rising by 15% in 2027.
Glenigan said water, energy and transport work should support the sector over the forecast period.
Water investment is expected to increase following Ofwat’s approval of £104bn of upgrades and repairs between 2025 and 2030.
Electricity networks, renewables, offshore wind and nuclear projects, including Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, are also expected to support demand.
Transport infrastructure is forecast to strengthen from next year, helped by funding for road maintenance, rail upgrades, HS2 and the TransPennine Route.
Office starts are expected to rise by 21% in 2026, making the sector one of the stronger performers this year.
Glenigan said demand is being driven by high-quality, energy-efficient office space, flexible working requirements and data centre development linked to artificial intelligence.
However, office activity is forecast to fall by 11% in 2027 after recent growth, before returning to a 4% rise in 2028.
Industrial work is expected to fall by 9% this year, before rising by 16% in 2027 and 5% in 2028.
Demand for logistics space, business investment and planning policy changes are expected to support the recovery.
Private and social housebuilding are both expected to finish 2026 in negative territory.
Private housing starts are forecast to fall by 5% this year, while social housing is expected to fall by 3%.
Glenigan expects private housing to rebound by 13% in 2027 and 5% in 2028, supported by lower borrowing costs, better consumer confidence and planning reform.
Social housing starts are forecast to rise by 8% in 2027 and 4% in 2028.
The report said higher Government funding, changes to the Social Housing Rent Cap and faster Building Safety Regulator approvals should help more schemes move forward.
Retail construction is forecast to rise by 1% in 2026, followed by 10% growth in 2027 and a 4% fall in 2028.
Glenigan said supermarket work is expected to remain the largest part of retail activity.
Hotel and leisure starts are forecast to fall by 12% this year, before rising by 11% in 2027 and slipping by 1% in 2028.
The sector has been hit by cost pressure, weaker margins and uncertainty affecting travel and hospitality investment.
Glenigan said a recovering economy and lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure could help operators bring forward delayed schemes.
For scaffolding and access contractors, the forecast points to a market that may remain uneven through the rest of 2026, before stronger tender pipelines begin to appear in 2027.
