Construction and the trades have one of the highest suicide rates of any sector in the UK. 

Episode 137 of the Trade Legends Podcast ended somewhere unexpected. Anthony from Rothenberger UK, who’d spent most of the conversation discussing press tools, social media, and brand building, opened up about something that’s been gathering momentum across the industry: a charity song project aimed squarely at mental health in construction.

It’s called Project 7000, and it’s worth knowing about.

The Numbers Behind the Silence

The construction and trades sector has long carried a mental health crisis that largely goes undiscussed. The figures are stark: suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, and tradespeople are disproportionately affected.

Long hours, physical strain, job insecurity, debt cycles, and a culture that has historically treated vulnerability as weakness are not just individual problems. They’re structural ones.

What’s changed in recent years is that more people inside the industry are refusing to stay quiet about it.

Project 7000: A Song With a Serious Purpose

On the podcast, Anthony mentioned a charity music project that’s brought together figures from across the trades and construction world, including people well known from social media and YouTube, to record a track raising awareness and funds for mental health causes.

The name refers to the number of lives lost to suicide in construction over a specific period, a figure that puts the scale of the problem into sharp relief.

All sales from the track go to charity. Buying the song pushes it up the charts, creating more visibility, driving more sales, and increasing impact. The more traction it gets, the further the message spreads.

For those who want to support: keep an eye on the Trade Legends socials and the social accounts of those involved for the release date and how to get it.

Why This Matters for Tradespeople Specifically

Anthony made a point on the podcast that a lot of people in the industry will recognise: most blokes in the trades just don’t talk about it.

That’s not a character flaw. It’s partly cultural, partly generational, and partly a product of working environments where showing any sign of struggle can feel like a professional liability. When you’re self-employed, and your next job depends on your reputation, the pressure to appear bulletproof is immense.

Social media has started to shift this, slowly but meaningfully. When well-known figures in the trades open up about mental health struggles, it gives others permission to do the same. The more normal these conversations become, the more likely it is that someone who’s struggling will reach out before it becomes a crisis.

The Bigger Picture: Trades Deserve Better Representation

There was a broader point threaded through the end of Episode 137 that’s worth pulling out.

The trades have historically been looked down on, with the assumption that manual work is a fallback rather than a skilled career. That attitude does real damage, and not just to individual self-esteem. It shapes how the sector is funded, trained, and valued at a policy level.

Podcasts like Trade Legends, the content creators doing serious work on YouTube, and the brands investing in genuine community engagement are all part of pushing back against that narrative.

Tradespeople aren’t just consumers of content. They’re the backbone of the built environment. The industry deserves media that reflects that.

What You Can Do

If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out. In the UK:

Mates in Mind, a leading charity improving mental health across the construction sector: matesinmind.org

CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably): 0800 58 58 58, available 5pm to midnight daily

Samaritans: call 116 123, available 24/7, free from any phone

And if you want to support Project 7000, watch out for the release on social media, buy the track when it drops, and share it. It costs next to nothing and the impact adds up.

Listen to Episode 137 on the Trade Legends Podcast for the full conversation with Anthony from Rothenberger UK, including his thoughts on Project 7000 and what the trades community is doing to push this issue forward.

Trade Legends is the UK podcast for tradespeople across plumbing, electrical, carpentry and construction. New episodes every week.