The UK Ministry of Defence needs to recruit 26 quantity surveyors and 14 Health and Safety workers as a matter of urgency if it is to deliver an £18bn upgrade programme.

A shortage of Quantity Surveyors and Health and Safety professionals in the UK is threatening an £18bn upgrade program by Defence Estates for the UK Department of Defence. The UK construction industry’s biggest client needs to double the number of QSs and Health and Safety professionals to cope with the workload.
A report published by the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says that as a result, budgets and planning were in disarray, and vital maintenance was being shelved in favour of building sports pitches and tennis courts.
The committee targeted Defence Estates, the Ministry of Defence’s property agency in particular, slating the standard of accommodation for service personnel and it said that the agency was employing 57 per cent of the required QSs and 56% of the necessary safety works staff it needed to carry out the work.
The report also comments that upgrading officers’ accommodation could take 20 years because of the shortage of QSs and Health and Safety staff. More than 50,000 officers’ rooms and 19,000 family homes are in a substandard condition, but the agency only plans to upgrade 900 family houses a year.