Rob Perrins also takes a swipe at the apprenticeship levy

The boss of one of the UK鈥檚 largest housebuilders believes the sector will ultimately benefit from Brexit by attracting more domestic talent.

Speaking at last week鈥檚 FT Future of Construction summit on London, Rob Perrins (pictured), chief executive of Berkeley Group, said he saw Brexit as 鈥渁n opportunity to resolve some of the industry鈥檚 issues鈥� with regard to closing the skills gap.

While political parties have all given assurances that EU-citizen employees working in the UK can remain following last year鈥檚 referendum vote, questions still remain over the freedom of movement for anyone looking for a job in the UK in future.

The construction sector鈥檚 reliance on overseas workers, particularly from the EU, means luring home-grown staff is expected to become more pressing.

In a debate on tackling the construction skills gap, Perrins said he saw the potential benefits of the UK鈥檚 departure from the EU, but warned against government interference. 鈥淭his will be up to the industry [to sort out].鈥�

In terms of training, Perrins argued that the industry lagged behind others 鈥� such as hairdressing 鈥� and only one in 10 on-site workers were undergoing training at any one time. He also argued the apprenticeship levy was simply a tax which would not work.

鈥淥ur industry won鈥檛 benefit from it, others will. It鈥檚 an additional tax. It lacks clarity and won鈥檛 add one more apprentice.鈥�

Sarah Beale, chief executive of industry training body the CITB - which is currently under review by the government following the introduction of the apprenticeship levy - said the government鈥檚 enthusiasm for apprenticeships meant the construction sector had a 鈥渞eal opportunity to change the image of the industry and attract talent from a wider pool of talent than ever before鈥�.

The industry should work together in what she described as a 鈥渨ar for talent鈥�. 鈥淲e are a very fragmented industry,鈥� she added.

Paul Oatham, head of UK corporate human resources at Bechtel, said the sector could be doing a better job of communicating the benefits of working in the industry and promoting diversity. 鈥淎 black or Asian engineering graduate is twice as likely to be jobless as their white equivalent. We should be telling the story better.鈥�

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