Four Romanian workers are standing in a waterlogged pit on a cold February morning in east London. Stepping across a steel mesh cage covering the ground, Alin, Rica, Johel and Mihaita are building the basement of what will become a £2m house in upmarket Wanstead. Speaking to each other in Romanian, they are, for now at least, a familiar sight in London’s construction industry, where 28% of the workforce are EU nationals. 

“They’re like family,” says Azad Azam, managing director of Design Plan Build (DPB) the contractor working on the scheme. “They’re really good guys, and they’re loyal. We socialise together, play football together.” Last week Alin, 32, was driven to hospital by a DPB colleague after falling ill. “We were with him all day,” says Azam.

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