Employment in the construction sector in the East of England will grow by nearly 14,000 over the next five years to a total of 251,660 jobs by 2020, according to figures from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

Its annual Construction Skills Network report predicts that the trades likely to fuel this rise include construction trade supervisors (rising by 3.3%), construction project managers (2.9%) and logistics workers (2.8%).

The report also estimates that construction output will grow at a projected annual average rate of 2.3% in the next five years.

Infrastructure should benefit from projects such as the new A14 dual carriageway in Cambridgeshire as well as a new renewable energy park in Fengate, Peterborough, it says.

Growth will also be boosted by a number of new retail and office developments, such as a new tech park in Downham Market and a £500million university expansion in Cambridge.

To help meet the skills challenge implied by this level of growth, the CITB has joined forces with the construction industry to produce Go Construct, a web portal that helps people find out about the range of construction career opportunities available.

Janette Welton-Pai, CITB partnerships manager, said: “We can’t build the Britain we want without apprenticeships and the careers they lead to.

“That’s why we want these new statistics, showing solid, sustained growth, to inspire more people across East of England to start apprenticeships and more construction firms to take them on.

“We also want to attract workers who have left the industry to return, and upskill those in it, so we can deliver major projects and new housing faster and better.”