Chair’s letter to the CBI Construction Council Members

Dear members of the CBI Construction Council,

As we settle back into routine following the holiday break, I’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. I hope you had the opportunity to relax and recharge in anticipation of what I am sure will be yet another busy and eventful year.

I would like to reiterate the commitment I made a year ago to making the CBI Construction Council a more focused body that acts with greater pace and velocity. Although there is room for improvement, we are doing better. Behind the scenes, there is better coordination with the trade associations – in particular Build UK, CECA, FMB and CPA. We are getting behind the CBI’s research project led by Neil Martin, and this will give us some useful data to sharpen our messaging, in support of confirming the built environment sector as vital to the interests of the UK at large.

Going forward, we need to find a way to drive some much needed change within our sector, so the Council will be addressing these issues. One such issue is diversity and inclusion. It’s a common criticism of our sector that we have very poor representation of women and ethnic minorities. For the sake of our own businesses – keeping in mind that diverse and inclusive companies are also better performing – we need to start delivering real improvements. I would like the Construction Council to be a forum for sharing good practice and driving change, starting with our own companies and indeed the Council itself. I know this is a goal shared by the CBI, and will be on the agenda at our first meeting in March.

Another area for improvement is to present a stronger, more united front to government, in order for us to have the economic conditions necessary to deliver what the government expects and what society needs. The Construction Sector Deal published last year was helpful, establishing the broader objectives and the somewhat more specific requirements in terms of innovation, skills, and public sector investment. But many questions remain, for example how the companies operating in our sector are equipped to deliver the broader objectives, given a fragmented supply chain, uncertain pipeline of new work, and the fact that main contractors are operating under wafer-thin margins with a heavy reliance on cash flow, with many experiencing difficulty in obtaining support from the financial services sector. As I mentioned, the CBI’s project that the Construction Council oversees will helpfully look at the situation from our own businesses’ perspective, and that will no doubt help us identify our key asks of government.

Finally, I would like for the Construction Council in 2019 to continue to champion the need to foster better collaboration in our sector. Too much inefficiency and unproductive tension is introduced into the system when an uncollaborative mindset prevails. This is not just about our own practices as companies, for example when consultants and contractors don’t work together as a team; it is exacerbated when public sector clients are increasingly late payers and place bureaucracy over trust in how they operate. This is at the heart of many other problems, such as access to finance, and I would like to see us do more to promote solutions, working in partnership with government.

Given that we are operating amongst so much political uncertainty, having clarity on our sector’s mission and what we require of government will be absolutely essential. The CBI Construction Council plays a valuable role in achieving that clarity – representing business and joining up efforts across the sector, for example by continuing to work with the trade associations and the Construction Leadership Council.

I look forward to working with those bodies and with every one of you in the CBI Construction Council in 2019 to advance our common interests.

Wishing you all the best for 2019!

Yours sincerely,
James Wates CBE