Industrial Strategy

Thursday 5th July 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

As part of the industrial strategy, the Government committed to making the most of the UK’s strengths, so we can be at the forefront of new technologies and emerging industries in the years ahead. The construction sector is fundamental to our economy as we invest in our future; building the homes and infrastructure we rely on.

The construction sector deal aims to drive a substantial improvement in the productivity growth of the sector in the coming years, by increasing the use of digital and offsite manufacturing technologies, creating new jobs and training the workforce in new skills, and supporting UK firms to exploit export opportunities in a rapidly expanding global construction market. The deal will support the development of affordable, easy to construct homes, schools and other buildings which can be quickly and sustainably manufactured offsite and then assembled when and where needed. The deal will boost the delivery of the Government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes by 2022.

The construction sector deal will deliver:

£420 million of investment to transform construction through developing and commercialising new digital and offsite manufacturing technologies for construction, which will aim to reduce the cost of new buildings by a third, and halve the time taken to deliver them;

Cheaper energy bills for families and businesses—supporting the industrial strategy clean growth mission to halve the energy use of new builds by 2030;

25,000 construction apprenticeship starts and 1,000 construction T-level placements; and

Supporting the UK construction sector to compete in the global market for infrastructure which is worth US $2.5 trillion a year.

With almost half of the economy reliant on the built environment and the services it enables, this deal brings together the construction, manufacturing, energy and digital sectors to deliver innovative approaches that improve productivity in the construction sector and accelerate a shift to building more efficient, safer, healthier and more affordable places to live, work and learn.

Sector deals, where industries are invited to come forward with plans for their future, embody the ethos of our collaborative approach. They show how industry and the Government, working in partnership, can boost the productivity and earning power of specific sectors. We have already struck ambitious deals with the artificial intelligence, life sciences, automotive and creative industries sectors with the nuclear sector deal announced last week, and we look forward to building on this in the months ahead.

I am placing a copy of the “Construction Sector Deal” in the Libraries of both Houses.

[HCWS831]