The government’s chief construction advisor has spoken out about using capital expenditure to promote employment skills in the East Midlands.
Peter Hansford gave a powerful and inspiring talk at the most recent meeting of the East Midlands Property Alliance (empa), which was attended by leading public sector figures in the construction industry across the region.
Over the last six months, the government has been working with people across the construction industry to develop a long-term vision. The result is ‘Construction 2025’ a joint strategy which sets out how industry and Government will work together to put Britain at the forefront of global construction over the coming years.
Peter spoke for the first time at the event about how the UK should be using capital expenditure to promote employment skills in construction and he applied the government’s strategy to different local authorities in the region.
Head of empa Alan Coole said: “Peter’s speech was inspirational and very interesting. He spoke about the government’s and the sector’s joint ambition for 2025, which is to see 30% lower costs, 50% faster delivery, 50% lower emissions and 50% improvement in exports.
“At the moment, there is quite a lot of importing of construction materials. Peter spoke about how manufacturing needs to up its game and turn this around, so that the UK is exporting more. He emphasised the importance of doing more business locally, faster delivery and doing things collaboratively.”
Alan added that Peter’s speech also covered new opportunities for the UK.
He said: “Changes in the international economy are creating new opportunities for Britain. To help boost the economic recovery, government is doing all it can to help British businesses grow and have the aspiration, confidence and drive to compete in the global race.
“Peter emphasised the importance of this and how it includes reforming the planning system, ensuring funding is available for key infrastructure projects and supporting the housing market.”
Empa, which was formed by local authorities in the East Midlands and is managed by Scape, improves the procurement and delivery of construction projects and property maintenance for public sector bodies, saving time and money for them and in turn for council taxpayers.
Work by empa covers all types of public sector buildings, including schools, colleges, universities, housing, NHS, care homes, leisure facilities, libraries and more.
