Constructing Excellence G4C, RIBA and CIC 2050Group have joined forces to kick-start a cross industry campaign to improve the public perception of the construction sector.
A panel debate was hosted by the RIBA on the 17th June and chaired by Antonio Pisano, co-founder of Marcel Mauer Architecture and co-chair of Constructing Excellence G4C. Key note speeches were delivered by Peter Hansford, Chief Government Advisor for the Construction Industry and Robin Wight, President of Engine. Also on the panel Nick Searl, Partner at Argent, Liz Male, chair of Trustmark, Danna Walker, CIC and chair of Architects for Change and Rachel Skinner, Partner at Parsons Brickenhoff. The first objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of the importance of construction for sustainable growth and the importance of transparency and quality to improve the industry’s reputation.
Construction is about giving people the right buildings and infrastructure to support sustainable growth. The way these buildings and infrastructure will be procured, delivered and operated will affect not only the current generation but others as well, today and in the future, in the UK and globally.
The particular way our buildings and infrastructure will be procured, delivered and operated has not only to respond to a global market but also to global socio, economical and environmental issues. Our future is in delivering housing, schools, hospitals and workplaces for 9 billion people on this planet in the next 40 years. Within the UK let’s get ready for a longer life expectancy, with the resulting demand in healthcare and care homes, more efficient distributed energy grids, to actively contribute to climate mitigation, and let’s get ready to look for talented, passionate young people to join this industry.
The UK construction industry is not in a bad place. We expect 4.3% growth pa until 2025 with a base line of £63b generated in contracting, £14b in servicing and £13b in products. We are the 3rd construction sector in Europe for total sales and 13 UK private companies are within the top 50 in the EU zone.
At the same time we are losing out against other sectors in R&D, latest BIS figures on R&D especially for SMEs are worryingly low, apprenticeship completions are going down and 20% of vacancies are hard to fill due to lack of right skills.
The image of construction affects us because we need talented people to deliver much needed buildings and infrastructure in light of global constraints.
G4C has started this campaign with the support and collaboration of RIBA and CIC2050 Group in response of the 2025 Construction Strategy Report:
“Improve the image of the industry by inspiring young people and through a co-ordinated approach to health and safety and improving performance in the domestic repair and maintenance market”.
Please share with your colleagues and friends this article and the video on the Rebranding the Industry event at RIBA available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxNiI1v5k1Y
Our first objective is to create a community of 100,000 people who #loveconstruction and are willing to change its image together.
