The government has published its new Construction Strategy which sets out a plan to increase productivity in government construction, deliver £1.7 billion worth of efficiencies and support 20,000 apprenticeships over the course of the current parliament.
Lord Bridges, parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, said: “We need to improve skills, both within government and the construction sector overall. Our strategy aims to improve government’s capacity and capability as a client, while helping the sector recruit and retain skilled employees.To achieve this, we need to work together – across government, and with the construction sector itself – to build a more competitive, prosperous nation.”
Dr Diana Montgomery, chief executive of the Construction Products Association, said: “We are very pleased to see the government further clarify its wider strategy for construction, along with the means to deliver the pipeline of projects in an effective, efficient way which ensures that the country gets high-quality infrastructure it needs and taxpayers get value for money. We particularly welcome the inclusion, for the first time, of the government’s plans to support delivery of large-scale housing and regeneration projects as well as key social infrastructure such as schools, together with those for economic infrastructure.”
The strategy sets out ambitions for smarter procurement, fairer payment, improving digital skills, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing client capability. These themes are consistent with the wider ambitions for industry in Construction 2025, which is being delivered by industry and government through the Construction Leadership Council.
Increased productivity will support government to deliver the £163 billion of planned projects identified in the spring 2016 Government Construction Pipeline.
The strategy is part of a suite of documents from the newly-formed Infrastructure and Projects Authority seeking to improve delivery, efficiency and performance across economic and social infrastructure projects in the public, private and regulated sectors.
CLICK HERE to view a copy of the strategy
