Technics Attend Construction Industry Summit 2015

Posted by John MacIntyre

Technics attended the Construction Industry Summit ealier this month. This was organised by the Construction Industry Council and the Strategic Forum for Construction, taking place at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Construction Industry Summit 2015

Held over two days, the flagship conference and networking event was attended by individuals from across the industry.

It was an opportunity to engage and empower stakeholders from across all sectors of the built environment, to achieve and deliver the vision set out in the Industrial Strategy Construction 2025 manifesto, which formed the key themes of the conference programme.

Stars of the show

The tone was largely positive with contributions from many areas including CIC, CITB, Innovate UK, HSE, Principal Contractors, BRE, CBI, CIOB, RICS, Town Planners, and Consultants. The stars of the show were perhaps the new young students and workers from the industry. They gave their frank views on stage on how ill-publicised and unstructured construction recruitment is, but what an amazing opportunity there was for young people.

Commitment to the Construction 2025 strategy

David Hancock, Head of Construction for the Cabinet Office, delivered a positive account of the construction strategy and its planning and delivery. Dr Peter Hansford, the Government’s Chief Advisor for Construction, assured the industry that the expiry of his role was not a cause for concern. He commented further that the Government is continuing to commit and progess with the Construction 2025 strategy.

Key themes

Key themes running across the summit were the skills shortage, staff diversity and retention, and the need to ensure joined-up thinking across the industry in order to support the current status-quo, let alone future growth.

Here’s a round up of the key headline facts and questions raised from the event:

  • The role of Government Chief Construction Advisor is to be phased out
  • Six division leads for the Leadership Council are to take up the baton from the CCA
  • Crossrail Chairman Andrew Wolstenholme is to lead on Smart & Innovation – to include BIM
  • The CBI reported good recovery in the UK and predicted growth in UK construction
  • Low inflation and rising wages were a game changer for UK households
  • Skills shortage across all sectors is still a real issue
  • With 22% growth forecast by 2019, will the construction industry have the skills and manufacturing capacity to deliver?
  • If the Government proceeds with its aim of 200,000 starter homes and planning reform then private housebuilding may be stronger than forecast
  • The private housing sector will grow by 9% in 2015 and 5% in 2016; SME builders will recover aided by the Help to Buy being extended to 2020
  • The commercial sector will see rising office numbers in key cities, but a slow retail recovery, as major supermarkets cut back expansion with key activity focused on small urban units and fit-outs
  • In the infrastucture sector double-digit growth is forecast with certainty given by the HM Treasury National Infrastructure Plan

For information on next year’s event, visit http://www.constructionindustrysummit.com/