The UK faces a ‘brutal’ construction skills shortage as a series of megaprojects already underway plus several more set to begin soon compete for scarce labour resources, according to the managing director of construction and engineering recruitment company Randstad UK, Simon Harris, who suggested the industry will need to hire as many as half a million additional people over the coming years. The construction labour force has shrunk from 2.6 million people in 2008 to 2.1 million in 2023, according to Randstad UK and will need many more recruits as demand ramps up, Harris said. He also warned that existing projects like the HS2 high-speed rail project and Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant were already stretching the workforce, even before others like the £9 billion Lower Thames Crossing, and the £1.7 billion Stonehenge Tunnel commence. Click here for more.