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Renovation Nation Report 2026

A new era of home improvement is taking shape in the UK as household priorities change

Trades Shortage UK Case Study 4

Jess Marlow is a 17-year-old trainee electrician from East Grinstead. She was interested in the trades from a young age as her Dad works as a plumber.

Trades Shortage UK Case Study 3

Dan Chaney, 31, is a self employed carpenter. He has been working in trades since his late teens, and specialised in carpentry.

Trades Shortage UK Case Study 2

Scott McBride is a 50 year old plasterer from Kent, and runs SMB Plastering with his son, Frank, 20. He has been working as a plasterer since he took an apprenticeship at the age of 16.

Trades Shortage UK Case Study 1

Chanelle Taylor, 31, is a painter and sprayer from Caerphilly, Wales. She began her career after discovering a love and talent for painting and wondering whether she could make her passion pay.

Trades Shortage 2024 UK Study

The skilled trades shortage continues to bite - with close to a million new recruits needed by 2032 for the industry to continue. However, the trades continue to be overlooked as a career choice, despite the obvious benefits and opportunities they offer.

Trades Shortage 2025 UK Study

A new hope is revealed for the UK skilled trades, as brand new research shows a rise in its popularity as a career choice as the threat of AI concerns workers.

Skills Shortage in the Trades

It’s no secret that the UK is suffering with a skills trade shortage. Estimates from respected bodies suggest that we need more than a million new tradespeople to enter the industry by 2032, but new recruits into trades continue to drop. Careers within the skilled trades offer a variety of opportunities and benefits for the person choosing it as their vocation - and yet it still appears to be lower on the list of job aspirations for school leavers.

Job-specific details to homeowners in seconds.

Help the Hedgehogs

We’re proud to announce that our Help the Hedgehogs campaign is back for 2026! Despite being one of the nation’s favourite wild animals, hedgehog numbers in the UK have been dropping fast over the last two decades, with experts suggesting that we may have lost up to 75 per cent of our hedgehog population since the year 2000. Much of this is caused by habitats being destroyed by building developments. Despite promises by major property developers to build “hedgehog highways” and make gardens wildlife accessible and friendly, often, it doesn’t happen.