黑洞社区

Business minister Michael Fallon has said that he is happy to be held accountable for the delivery of the four central 鈥渁mbitions鈥� in the government鈥檚 industrial strategy for construction.

The document, launched today at 黑洞社区鈥檚 Government Construction Summit, sets out ambitions to: reduce construction time by half; knock a third off construction costs; and reduce both the construction trade gap and emissions from the built environment by half - all by 2025.

Asked if they were described as ambitions because the government didn鈥檛 expect them to be met, Fallon said: 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to say these are targets and I鈥檓 sure people are going to hold us to these.

鈥淭he objectives are very stretching for the industry, but we want our biggest names in this industry to be competing across the globe. And the industry has a long way to go [to meet these targets].鈥�

Cross-party support

Fallon said he had not specifically got a commitment from the Labour Party to support the ambitions, which run across two general elections, but that Labour had been broadly supportive of its overall industrial strategy policy, launched by business secretary Vince Cable last Autumn, and had specifically supported individual industrial strategies for the automotive and aerospace industries.

The ambition to reduce construction costs by 33% is from a 2009 benchmark, and therefore includes within it the target in the government鈥檚 2011 construction strategy to reduce costs by 15-20% between 2009 and 2015.

The ambition to reduce construction time by half takes account of the entire process from 鈥渋nception to completion鈥�, therefore including time taken in the planning process.

However, chief construction adviser Peter Hansford said there were big opportunities to reduce time spent actually constructing buildings specifically.

He said: 鈥淲ithout doubt the construction phase can be reduced further. Part of the retail sector says they鈥檝e already done this.鈥�

鈥楪etting our hands dirty鈥�

Meanwhile, in his keynote speech this morning, Fallon told delegates that the government鈥檚 new strategy for the industry will 鈥済et its hands dirty鈥� by tackling current challenges like cash-flow problems.

Fallon said the new Construction Leadership Council, alongside the Institute of Credit Management, would introduce a new fair payment charter for the industry by the end of the year.

Fallon said this would use the principles of the existing Prompt Payment Code, but would be specifically tailored to construction.

He added the government would also extend the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme, a loans guarantee scheme, to 鈥渟upport trade credit for the first time鈥�.

He said 300 trade customers of product manufacturer Kingfisher were already benefitting from a trade credit pilot project.

Responding to scepticism that many such fair payment initiatives have been launched in the past, Fallon said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 precisely by binding the industry into the commitments they have made in the strategy鈥� that we will make sure that industry takes charge of this.

鈥淭his is something the industry has to own and take charge of itself.鈥�

Fallon also said the new Construction Leadership council would help the industry 鈥減unch at its weight鈥�.

He said the industry should be on a par with the aerospace sector in influencing government and wider society. He called the new strategy for the industry a 鈥渢rue collaboration between government and the industry at the most senior level鈥�.

Fallon also urged UK contractors to do more work abroad and said construction products made in Britain should be more widely used.

Safety drive must extend to SMEs

Meanwhile, in his key note speech, Hansford called for a major safety drive in the industry, telling delegates that 鈥渨e must strive for zero harm across the industry鈥�.

He said there had been 鈥渆normous progress鈥� on site safety over the past decade, but this mainly achieved by larger firms.

鈥淪eventy per cent of fatal accidents now occur in the SME sector,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e must turn our attention to small projects.鈥�

He added that improving occupational health should also be a priority for the sector and said he was committed to extending the Trust Mark scheme further in the industry. Hansford called the new strategy for construction 鈥渢he start of a journey鈥� up to 2025.

He said: 鈥淚magine a world where buildings and infrastructure are conceived and built faster, with better whole life costs and low energy costs,鈥� he said.

鈥淎n industry that leads the world in research and development, advanced materials 鈥� and the use of exciting new technologies.鈥�

He said such an industry could attract the best 鈥済irls and boys鈥� to join it.