Insights

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is changing how employers across construction, real estate, infrastructure and engineering manage their workforce. Maria Sinclair, Managing Director at Cobalt Recruitment UK, explores the key reforms, implementation timelines and practical steps employers should take to prepare.

Cobalt’s latest Wednesday Market Insights explores how growing UK investment is increasing pressure on the built environment talent pipeline, from major Northern development opportunities to shortages in Project Planning.

Why are experienced construction planners so difficult to hire? Luke Kinsey explores the UK planning skills shortage, why traditional talent pools are shrinking, and how employers can build the next generation of planners.

Cobalt celebrates 25 years in business, from its beginnings in London in 2001 to an international group spanning multiple markets, brands and specialist recruitment services.

Where have all the MRICS Building Surveyors gone? Ashleigh Pearce explores the UK shortage, from an ageing workforce and chartership bottlenecks to pay pressures and what employers can do to strengthen the talent pipeline.

Real estate technology employers are competing with banks, consultancies and tech firms for the same specialist talent. Adam Parry explores what this means for hiring, retention and how employers can widen the talent pool.

From Real Estate Technology & Business Transformation to Building Surveying, talent pressures are taking different forms across the Built Environment. We look at what this means for employers, hiring strategies and the wider skills pipeline.

Maria Sinclair, Managing Director UK at Cobalt Recruitment, explores why the built environment skills gap goes beyond recruitment, examining retention, career awareness, AI, apprenticeships and what the industry can do to build a stronger talent pipeline.

Construction News' April long read on the new Construction Skills Mission Board marks a quiet but important shift in how the sector's skills problem is being framed. For hiring leaders, the shift is the story.

Featuring insight from industry leaders at the UK’s leading property developers, housebuilders, REITs, and investment firms, The Development Index 2026 is an all-encompassing appraisal of what’s happening across the development lifecycle now, and what employers and employees within it need to know going into 2026 and beyond.

New research reveals that the UK development industry is entering 2026 with cautious optimism but is still held back by deep-rooted staffing challenges that are slowing delivery and squeezing project viability. The Development Index – produced by real estate and construction hiring specialist, Cobalt Recruitment – captures the current challenges, along with the opportunities and pressures shaping the year ahead.

First came the Northern Powerhouse, then the Levelling Up agenda – and now we have The Great North. Here we explore how changes in policies have shaped the built environment, what they'll mean for the sector over the next decade, and what skills are in-demand and where across the property lifecycle as a result of them.