There is ’huge concern’ for the construction sector as prices for materials increase and the island faces labour shortages.

Brian Butler, chair of Construction Isle of Man, which represents the industry, believes the current problems within the sector have been fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said: ’The pandemic caused the major problem because you had factories close down, we then had problems with breakdowns as well in factories so then machines weren’t getting repaired and serviced, so the output of factories at the moment is probably just starting to get back to pre-pandemic levels but we still have the issue of getting the stocks back where they need to be.

’Raw materials are costing too much money.

’You’ve got less supply, bigger demand, the price only goes one way.’

When asked about labour shortages, he added: ’The island has got a very specific problem with labour at the moment, we do not have enough labour to do the work that we have.

’We’re not training enough people, the construction industry is getting older, there’s more people retiring than are entering the industry.’

Mr Butler felt the solution was a change of image.

He said: ’We need to stop making construction look like the "dirty industry", it’s not, it can be a very rewarding industry to be involved in.

’Also, we have to start paying people properly for doing the job.

’You see it on Facebook all the time - "wanted painter, cheaper the better" - we don’t want cheaper, we want better. We want to drive standards up that way.

’In the short term, we have to allow people to come over here from the UK to work.’

The chairman also suggested training was the way forward.

Currently, University College Isle of Man offers a variety of construction courses as well as apprenticeship programmes that are part and full-time to cater for school age and mature students.

Mr Butler continued: ’I think UCM brings in 13 university apprentice joiners a year and that’s nowhere near enough.

’There’s more than 13 joiners that are leaving the industry every year - that’s a problem.’

Mr Butler stressed the urgency of the situation.

He said: ’At some stage it’ll balance out, the sector will slow down, there won’t be much building going on, there’s a lot of big building going on at the moment, with big building in the pipeline.

’At the moment, smaller domestic house extensions and such are taking up all the labour in the island.

’There is an issue going forward as the bigger [companies] aren’t that busy, they don’t see where they’re going to be working in six to 12 months time, whereas the smaller [companies] are looking at the next four months doing house extensions after house extension.

’The problem then is that the bigger [companies] can’t get the subcontractors because they’re all working for the smaller [companies].’