Polish builders quit UK for work at home

The exodus of Polish builders is gathering pace as the residential construction market in Poland grows, while the UK goes into reverse.

A report by Polish research company PMR Publications predicted that the Polish residential market would increase 50% to £4bn in 2008, with approximately 170,000 housing completions.

It will continue to grow, reaching a peak of 200,000 completions in 2010, before dropping off.

The good short-term prospects for Polish construction workers, combined with falls in the value of Sterling against the Zloty, have seen Polish workers leave the UK in their droves since the start of the year.

The Home Office saw a 26% drop in the number of applications for work permits from eastern European nationals between April and June, and blamed the decrease mainly on a fall in Polish applicants.

Kris Ruszczynski, president of the Institution of Polish Engineers in Great Britain, said: "It has become very common that quite a lot of people who haven't settled permanently in the UK are going back to Poland. The Polish residential market is definitely doing much better now than in England."

He said that the workforce at his own company, UK-based labour only subcontractor Polonia, had already contracted as Poles returned home.

Ruszczynski said: "I have reduced the number of people from 50 to 15 now. One-third of my workforce didn't come back from Poland in January - they decided to stay.

"The big development in Poland is because Poles working in the UK heavily invest in the residential market when they return. As the economy slows in England, the residential market in Poland will suffer."