A shortage of construction managers and supervisors is threatening a fledgling industry upturn in Scotland.

The latest Scottish Construction Monitor found that industry sentiment north of the border is finally turning positive.

But problems finding qualified construction managers hit 90% of companies quizzed by the Scottish Building Federation.

The survey regularly asks federation members to rate their confidence about prospects over the next 12 months.

The latest results show a 31 point improvement in industry confidence, taking the overall rating to +18 – the first time a positive result has been recorded since the quarterly survey series began in 2008.

The survey revealed that the number of managers and supervisors employed by the industry is likely to show an overall net increase of 13% over the next year.

Around 60% of those companies looking to recruit managers or supervisors over the past 12 months have successfully developed existing staff to take on these responsibilities.

But 90% of employers seeking to recruit managerial staff externally reported significant difficulties with finding suitable candidates.

SBF Managing Director Vaughan Hart said, “After such a prolonged downturn in the fortunes of the construction sector, it is very encouraging to see a significant improvement in confidence amongst our members and a positive rating overall.

“It is also pleasing to see projections that the number of managerial and supervisory staff the Scottish construction industry employs will increase significantly over the next three years.

“It is gratifying to see so many companies actively and successfully developing their existing workforce to take on managerial responsibilities.

“But the difficulty many members have experienced with recruiting externally for managerial positions points to a growing skills shortage.

“This could create real challenges for the industry as the recovery gathers pace.”

David A. Smith, Joint Managing Director of Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd., a member of SBF said, “There are certainly more opportunities out there now than there have been over the last 4 or 5 years.

“I think the construction market still has a long way to go on the path to recovery.  But we’re now more optimistic about our future prospects than we have been for some time.”