The CIOB Policy Team Newsletter - July 2022

July with the CIOB Policy team

Welcome to this edition of CIOB’s policy team newsletter.

This edition includes an overview of our response to the Department for Health and Social Care’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan, a rundown of our response for the draft Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, information about CIOB’s CEO visit to Birmingham and our perspective on the Conservative Party Leadership election.

We would love to hear from you, so please do get in touch at [email protected].

One thing you need to do...Read our Article on the Construction Sector's Voice on Mental Health

It is vital that the Department of Health and Social Care’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan understands the issues causing poor mental health in the construction industry.

CIOB, a professional body which represents 47,000 members across the globe, has been actively engaged in promoting issues impacting the construction industry and wider built environment. In 2019, it produced a shocking report “Understanding Mental Health in the Built Environment” which received over 2,000 responses from those working in the industry. The report highlighted that due to the nature of work, almost all respondents were facing long periods of time where they felt stressed and 26% had suicidal thoughts at least once over the past year – all this before a global pandemic effectively brought the industry to a standstill the following year.

Echoing the findings from the report, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that more than 1,400 men in the industry died by suicide between 2011 and 2015, indicating that this is a serious ongoing issue that must be addressed at an industry and governmental level.

Sadly, mental health is still massively stigmatised within the industry, meaning that many people stay silent. If this tradition of not opening up carries on we will continue to see the high statistic of men working in construction being three times more likely to die by suicide, and this urgently needs to change.

You can read more about our response to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan and our calls to action for both the Government and industry here.

CIOB's Response to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

Throughout July 2022, the Policy & Public Affairs team has been busy responding to the Levelling Up, Housing & Communities Committee call for evidence on the draft Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. Our formal written response sets out recommendations, of what we believe the Bill should strive to achieve – from placing the quality of new homes as a primary objective of reforming the planning system; to introducing a Built Environment GCSE in England.

In terms of background, in February 2022, the Government published the Levelling up White Paper, setting out a framework of action to reduce geographical disparities and raise socio-economic outcomes across the UK through investment in the built, social, and economic environment. The proposed programme of action primarily revolved around the setting of twelve ‘missions’, including empowering local decision makers; securing paths to homeownership; improving the connectivity of communities; and increasing the number of people completing high-quality skills training, amongst others.

Following the Queen’s Speech in May 2022, the UK Government unveiled the ‘Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill’, and provided further details of how the Government would level up the nation in practice. As the draft Bill is rather long, we thought it would be useful to highlight some of the key areas of interest/concern for CIOB as well as provide an insight into what the team has said in our formal written response:

• The Role of Construction in Levelling Up

Within our analysis, we highlighted how the built environment has a significant role to play in achieving the twelve missions, from providing direct employment, investment, and revenue to local and national economies, to delivering housing, transport, and fundamental infrastructure. For example, in terms of delivering environmentally, economic, and socially driven homes, the sector can assist in developing radical solutions to ‘build back better’ and ‘greener’ by adopting more innovative approaches, techniques and methods on construction schemes, which can act as a catalyst to accelerate levelling up, and simultaneously, make progress towards our net zero ambitions. Whilst we are supportive of the levelling up missions and their intention, we are keen to see an independent body commissioned to scrutinise the Government’s progress against each mission.

• Levelling Up & the Skills Gap

One of the key barriers to levelling up from a CIOB perspective has been the historical underlying issues that continue to limit construction’s potential, particularly in terms of the significant gulf between the labour and skills which currently exists. This concern is reinforced by the latest CITB Construction Skills Network report, which suggests that, if projected growth output is to be achieved, “over a quarter of a million extra construction workers may be needed by 2026”. Ultimately, we believe that the levelling up agenda has the potential to address skills gaps in the construction industry. In our response we have recommended that the Government work with the industry to develop unique, sustainable, employment skills and opportunities that reflect local priorities; as well as ensure construction projects provide opportunities that create social value and support local economic growth.

• Planning Reforms & the Role of SMEs

In addition, throughout our written evidence, CIOB have actively advocated for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to play a significant role in meeting the UK’s housing demand, as part of the proposed planning reforms. In recent decades, we have witnessed SMEs be priced-out of the development market, primarily due to a lack of access to finance, and uncertainty over the outcome of planning applications. We have therefore proposed that the Government give due consideration in protecting SMEs to ensure competitiveness, as we believe that diversification of the housing delivery market is crucial to maintaining a consistent stream of new home completions.

• Levelling Up & Net Zero

CIOB has also encouraged the Government to explicitly align its levelling up agenda with wider-policy objectives, such as net zero. The Bill, in its current state, appears to be a missed opportunity to explicitly align the Government’s flagship policies on levelling up and net zero. It is precisely because of this; we have recommended that the Bill be used as a driver for addressing sustainable development and to align planning reforms with our legally binding climate targets.

• Conclusion

The built environment continues to influence and shape how we live, work, and play at community levels. Therefore, the Government must not underestimate the importance of listening to the industry on how best to deliver levelling up at a practical level.

Should you have any views on the draft Levelling up and Regeneration Bill, or would like further information, please [email protected].

Our submission can be viewed here once published by the Committee.

CIOB Ireland Seeks Members Views for Consultation on District Heating Regulations

CIOB is responding to the Consultation on the introduction of the European Union (District Heating) Regulations 2022 and would like to hear members' views on the introduction of the European Union (District Heating) Regulations in Ireland. The consultation, including all the relevant documents, can be found here. Should you have any views or feedback, please send them to Joseph Kilroy, Policy &Public Affairs Manager - Ireland, Scotland and Wales on [email protected].

• CIOB works with Atlantic Technical University on Applied Circular Built Environment Research Programme to the construction sector

ATU is developing a dedicated research programme around the circular built environment. They have prepared an initial concept idea, which is being socialised with industry to gauge interest. This proposed research ecosystem would also link in with similar initiatives across the EU and would also bring in collaboration across the higher education in Ireland. the outline proposal is available here.

Email [email protected] if you are interested.

CIOB's CEO Visits Birmingham

Caroline Gumble, CEO of CIOB visited the Birmingham region in a 3-day tour which coincided with the opening of the Commonwealth Games. Her first stop was The University of Wolverhampton’s School of Architecture and Built Environment (SoABE), where she officially opened the new CIOB branded spaces.  

During the three days Caroline visited several projects including the transformation of Wolverhampton’s iconic grade II listed Royal Hospital into a wellbeing scheme for over 55’s, the second phase of the Paradise Development at One Centenary Way, and Perry Barr Regeneration Scheme. Each project demonstrated the fantastic work being undertaken in the region and how they are working with a legacy in mind to provide value to the wider community.

The final day saw Caroline host a roundtable event at Aston University on the topic of levelling up the Midlands and ensuring we have the skills for the future. The session was chaired by Andrew Bridge, Senior Customer Engagement Manager at CITB and saw education providers, regional policy makers and leaders in the built environment come together to discuss how we can collaborate on inspiring and educating the future workforce to level up the region.

The important takeaway from the session was the need for better collaboration between businesses and education providers which allows the industry to inspire and inform young people on the opportunities within the built environment, feed into the course materials needed to adequately train the next generation of workers and to provide stable work opportunities to new talent entering the industry.

Daisie Rees-Evans, our Policy & Public Affairs officer for the Midlands region will be following up with relevant people to take forward points raised within the discussion. To get in touch, email [email protected].  

You can read the full details of Caroline’s visit in October’s edition of Construction Management Magazine.

Regional Overviews

• Northern Ireland

While Northern Ireland continues to operate without a sitting Assembly, CIOB is repeating its calls for a government to be formed immediately. CIOB and fellow professional and trade bodies want an end to a damaging period of uncertainty for the sector. The lack of a fully functioning government in Northern Ireland has caused uncertainty about future public-sector construction procurement, planning reform and housebuilding. The instability is reflected in a decline in business activity in construction in July. CIOB will invite fellow members of the Construction Professionals Council of Northern Ireland (CPCNI) and the Northern Ireland Construction Group (NICG) to sign a letter to the three elected leaders of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom urging them to articulate a clear pathway to a functioning Assembly.

• Ireland

An Independent Working Group set up by Darragh O’Brien TD, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to examine defects in apartments and duplexes constructed in Ireland between 1991 and 2013 published its report this month.

CIOB provided intelligence to the Group through several roundtables during 2020 and 2021. We also recently briefed several TDs on the policy options available to the Irish Government to pay for defective buildings, leveraging the policy team’s work on the building safety policy regime in the UK. In our briefing we presented options to protect leaseholders while ensuring that remediation works were adequately funded and carried out to a high standard. We are happy to see several of our recommendations presented as policy options to the Government in the final report.

• Scotland

Jocelyne Fleming, CIOB’s Policy & Public Affairs Officer in Scotland, attended the Scottish Government’s Cladding Stakeholder Working Group to discuss the Single Building Assessment Programme and the development of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord.

CIOB will be participating in the upcoming Scottish Green Home Festival, running from 8-11 August. We will be speaking about our work in sustainability in the Scottish context and the UK more broadly.  

• Wales

David Kirby, CIOB’s Policy & Public Affairs Officer for Wales, submitted evidence to the Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee on the forthcoming Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill which can be read here. Keep an eye on our Wales events page for details of an event on the topic in September.

CIOB has also joined the Senedd’s Housing Cross Party Group, as well as Homes For All Cymru (HFAC). We look forward to our first meeting later this year.

Conservative Party Leadership Election

Throughout July, senior Conservative MPs have competed to be elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party and therefore Prime Minister. We started the month with 12 candidates from across the different wings of the Conservative Party. However, this was quickly whittled down to five before the live television debates began on 15 July 2022. The final five included Kemi Badenoch MP, Penny Mordaunt MP, Rishi Sunak MP, Liz Truss MP and Tom Tugendhat MP.

Over the course of two televised debates these candidates set out their priorities for the country with some choosing to appeal to the traditional voting pool for the Party which favours low taxation and minimal government intervention. Others chose to take a more ‘realistic’ viewpoint of the need for fiscal responsibility in the wake of the continuing cost of living crisis and need to pay back loans from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

However, through all of this each candidate acknowledged the need to carry on the legislative agenda of the previous government and continue to prioritise levelling up as a flagship policy for the Conservative Party, which is at least one positive to take from the recent stall in government activity.

As the month came to a close, we found out the final two candidates who would be vying for the leadership of the Party. These were Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

However, as much as we all enjoy a leadership election, all good things must come to an end and on Monday 5 September the Party members will choose their next leader.

Regardless of who is chosen CIOB will be keen to understand early on whether the new leader will commit to continuing on with the legislative agenda and whether their new cabinet will commit to working alongside the built environment to achieve the aims of levelling up whilst also ensuring that the step change in quality of buildings aspired to in the Building Safety Act is followed through.

CIOB and the Press

In addition to coverage in Construction Management Magazine on the Global Student Challenge winners and the appointment of Michael Yam as the new CIOB President, July saw the publication of three first person articles from CIOB. The first from Senior Vice-President, Sandi Rhys-Jones OBE, featured on the website of PBC Today and looked at how we can increase diversity, in particular female representation, in the construction sector. The second was a Q&A on the Personnel Today website with Head of ED&I, Mark Harrison, also on how our industry can attract people from more diverse talent pools. The third was an article on the Politics Home website outlining why government needs to listen to the construction industry voice on mental health and wellbeing (see ‘one thing you need to do’ at the start of this newsletter).

Getting CIOB’s views published in media read, not only by those within our industry, but also those in other sectors along with MPs and other decision makers is a key goal for Media Relations Manager Becky Trotman, so keep an eye out for more coverage in the coming months.

Coming up in August

This is going to be a rather short section as both the House of Lords and House of Commons are in recess throughout August. Both chambers of the house will sit again on 5 September 2022. In media relations, we’ll be announcing the finalists of the 2022 CIOB Awards and publishing a first-person piece in political magazine Holyrood, on the retrofitting versus demolition debate. We’re also expecting to be quoted in a BBC online feature on mental health in the construction industry.

Staying in Touch

Thank you for reading this month’s update from the CIOB policy team. We will be back in your inbox next month with more information about what the team is up to, what is going on in Parliament and built environment news to look out for.   

All the best,     

The CIOB policy team

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