Grant Findlay is executive managing director – buildings at Sir Robert McAlpine
Our sector is an economic bellwether for the UK. The ripples that spread to envelop the global economy often start within – or are at least first felt by – construction. Infrastructure, planning and development were key staples of the King’s Speech, with the new government clearly looking to bolster the industry in the pursuit of economic growth.
“The need for the government to develop a long-term plan for domestic supply chains grows only more urgent”
And yet, in the past, despite their economic importance, major construction projects have been used as a political football – putting them at the mercy of the electoral cycle. While the sector and the UK economy as a whole would benefit from long-term planning, construction can all too often fall victim to political expediency. This stop-start approach is not only costly, but also acts as a bulwark to innovation, denying industry players the opportunity to pioneer and then roll out new techniques and technologies across multiple projects.
The new government, with its freshly instated construction minister, has the opportunity to drive real change and break the link between the electoral cycle and construction. It has the chance to develop a long-term, depoliticised plan. This will not only create jobs across the country, but provide an opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in innovation and carbon reduction.
Calls for change
Voices calling for change have been multiplying, with Build UK among those outlining how the sector can be reformed. In this very publication it rolled out its five ‘Ps’ to “Power up construction”, outlining the certainty and long-term planning that the sector needs. The proposals would see investment in people and education to ensure the sector is ready for the challenges of the future. They would also enact the Construction Playbook – thus helping end the short-termism that fuels the race to bottom on price and ensuring a pipeline of agreed and funded sustainable economic and social infrastructure. This would ultimately provide a decade of certainty.
The new government is well placed to act, inheriting a resilient, growing sector that has effectively faced the challenges of the past few years, be it the global pandemic, geopolitical developments or mounting inflation. Indeed, the supply chain dislocation wrought by global conflicts hasn’t sounded the death knell for construction. Rather it has led to the growth of onshoring, with a number of projects that might otherwise have been based abroad instead being based in the UK – primary manufacturing, for instance.
This is an approach that can complement and bolster the chancellor’s so-called securonomics agenda, strengthening the domestic economy from shocks overseas. This continued demand will bring economic benefits to the UK and offset the post-Covid realignment in the market.
Crucially, however, there is little to suggest that international tensions are set to abate, and the industry is currently grappling with skills shortages and the green energy transition. So the need for the UK government to develop a long-term plan for domestic supply chains grows only more urgent.
We need a clear and consistent pipeline so that we can invest in the skills and technology that will be needed to deliver on these projects. In such an uncertain world, it’s up to the government to now provide some much-needed certainty.
