Government

Reaction has swiftly followed chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget announcement – Construction News takes a look at how the industry is responding. Refresh to update.

Building safety Addleshaw Goddard partner Peter Hardy: “The levy on developers with profit of more than £25m to help pay for cladding will need to be…

Tom Boland is head of digitisation at software provider Zutec Planning Gateway 1 arrived at the start of August, forming a crucial part of the UK government’s strategy for addressing risks in the residential property sector in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy. The requirements set out in Gateway 1…

As the future use of frameworks is being reviewed, Greg Pitcher examines whether current policies are fit for purpose

Imagine a country where more than £200bn of public construction spending was funnelled away from the open market into closed pools of contractors in just 24 months. According to figures from market…

Philippa Spence is UK managing director at engineering consultancy Ramboll As the late-October start date of the COP26 climate-change summit fast approaches, not since the 2015 Paris Agreement of COP21 has so much been riding on a meeting. This is the decade when the world must change course if we…

Rico Wojtulewicz is head of housing and planning policy at trade body the National Federation of Builders The start of August saw a change to Permitted Development Rights (PDR) in England that will allow many more commercial buildings – such as gyms, shops and cafes – to be converted into…

Catherine Gelder is a partner and David McCoy is a senior associate in the London office of law firm CMS This month, nearly a year after it was published in draft form, the government introduced its Building Safety Bill to parliament. The draft had set out the government’s plan to…

Jaimie Johnston is director and head of global systems at modern-methods consultancy Bryden Wood The past decade has seen government consistently heading in the same direction, towards value-led outcomes. In 2011, the adoption of BIM was the first step, kick-starting the modernisation of our sector with an outcomes-based hypothesis that…

Mark Robinson is group chief executive at public sector procurement specialist Scape The Queen’s Speech at the state opening of parliament last month offered a quick reference guide to the government’s current priorities. No one will have been surprised to hear our head of state read out that her government’s…

Graham Harle is the chief executive officer of Gleeds Worldwide. The greatest long-term challenge to those working in construction is not the current materials shortage, the paucity of available skilled labour, or even cash flow. These are important inhibitors to growth, especially as we come out of the pandemic, but…

Lord Andrew Stunell is the Liberal Democrat spokesman on the construction industry When Grenfell Tower burned, killing 72 people and ruining the lives of hundreds more, it marked a tragic end to decades of falling fatalities in house fires in England. That steady decline in fire deaths was highlighted in…