Essex-based Weston Homes is seeking UK employees to plug the gaps that will be left in the construction industry following Brexit.

East Anglian Daily Times: The Weston Homes headquarters at Takeley, Essex Picture: WESTON HOMESThe Weston Homes headquarters at Takeley, Essex Picture: WESTON HOMES (Image: Weston Homes)

The building industry already has a skill shortage, says chairman and CEO Bob Weston, and Brexit is only likely to make it worse, so he is recruiting 350 new staff.

Weston Homes is based at Takeley near Stansted Airport, where it already employs more than 430 staff, and the majority of the new roles will be based there.

The high volume housebuilder, established in 1987, has plans to build 7,500 new homes, worth a total of £2million and as a result, the company is expected to double in size over the next five years.

To ensure they can deliver this, the company is recruiting 350 new staff over the next 18 to 24 months with job disciplines covering engineering, planning and design, technical, commercial and construction.

East Anglian Daily Times: The employee gym at Weston Homes HQ Picture: WESTON HOMESThe employee gym at Weston Homes HQ Picture: WESTON HOMES (Image: Archant)

The company is looking for people with a variety of different experience levels.

About a third of these new roles will be site-based, the rest at the Essex headquarters.

Mr Weston said: “Brexit is having a huge long term impact on the London and wider UK construction industry, as we go through the next economic cycle we won’t get the replacement people from the EU that the construction sector has traditionally relied upon.

“The challenge facing construction is that the starter homes market is booming, we have hundreds of homes we need to build, this requires more staff, and with Brexit, we need young domestic UK employees to come into the sector.”

He added: “Weston Homes alone needs 350 new employees, and the other big house builders are in the same situation, so there’s a need for hundreds and hundreds of people.”

The Essex headquarters already has a gym, restaurant and leisure amenities for staff, and an in-house training academy to develop employees.

A major distribution centre is also due to open in November.

“The key challenge is persuading young people from the UK that the construction industry is a superb place to work. Some are dissuaded to join due to outdated perceptions of the sector. The reality is that today’s construction industry offers young Londoners highly professional, highly paid careers.

“A top flight construction project manager in London will be a degree educated person, running a large team and earning a high six-figure salary.”