Businesses urged to embrace Shropshire’s multi-billion pound construction programme

Construction businesses from across Shropshire have been urged to play their part in helping to deliver a multi-billion pound programme of projects planned for the region.

Plans to regenerate Shrewsbury’s Riverside area and the flagship Station Quarter development in Telford were just two of the key opportunities outlined to more than 100 business representatives attending the Project Pipeline event at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury.

The major event hosted by Shropshire Constructing Excellence, the Constructing Excellence Midlands Shropshire Club, attracted companies operating across the sector – from housing developers to sub-contractors and civil engineers to main contractors.

Mark Barrow, chair of Shropshire Constructing Excellence and executive director of place at Shropshire Council, told delegates that construction was fundamental to supporting growth in the Shropshire economy.

He outlined a draft pipeline of key projects in housing, transportation, education, health and the environment totalling £5.58billion by 2032 and estimated the potential economic impact of such developments to be in the region of £16.29billion.

He said:

“It’s been great to see such a fantastic turnout and to see so many ambitious organisations looking forward to grasping opportunities locally to grow their own business.

“We want to understand how we can help these people achieve success.

“We do great things in Shropshire and we need to work together more to create and leverage opportunities for as many businesses as possible and that’s what these networking and knowledge-building events are all about.”

The event also heard from Katherine Kynaston and James Dunn, directors at Telford & Wrekin Council, about the ongoing construction opportunities in relation to the flagship Station Quarter project which is set to provide new education, housing and business facilities.

Matt Laws, from event sponsor Shrewsbury Colleges Group, gave an overview of the wide range of training courses on offer to the construction industry including its new Higher Technical Qualifications and the newly created shorter, modular courses which aim to support industry professionals with flexible and creative learning.

“Our aim is to provide a relevant and responsive training provision which meets the skills the industry needs,” he said. “The construction sector is a priority sector for us with a specific focus on the environment and technology.

“We are so much more than a college that supports young people. We are working to support the sector and many of our courses have been developed in partnership with businesses working across construction.”

Harpreet Rayet, of Cornovii Developments, updated the event on STAR Housing’s successful retrofit project near Oswestry, sustainability plans and SAP calculations, whilst Andrew Carpenter, from Constructing Excellence Midlands, also explained how the organisation works together with SCE for the benefit of construction businesses.

The event also provided an opportunity for delegates to network and build new partnerships.

Project Pipeline event host, Amy Bould, managing director of Be Bold Media and committee member of SCE, said:

“It was fantastic to see so much appetite from businesses wanting to be involved with so many great projects and developments and we look forward to our next event which will be just as informative and engaging for those working across the sector.”

Source: Shropshire Star

British Safety Council calls on the next Government to put health, safety and wellbeing at the heart of economic growth

Ahead of a UK General Election expected this year, British Safety Council has published a manifesto containing policies to support better productivity and growth as well as ensure a healthier, safer and happier workforce.

The UK lost an estimated 32.5 million days to work-related ill-health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2022/2023, and sickness and illness are at a 10-year high, costing businesses and the economy up to £77.5 billion a year. Poor mental health is also estimated to cost UK taxpayers around £45 billion each year.

50 years on from the landmark Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), British Safety Council, calls on all political parties and representatives to “commit to making the next 50 years the safest in our nation’s history”. Its ‘Manifesto on Health, Safety and Wellbeing’ sets out seven key calls across four policy areas: regulation; wellbeing; technology and the future of work; and skills.

British Safety Council’s calls on a future UK Government include:

• A dedicated Ministerial portfolio responsible for wellbeing, which would also be given cross-governmental responsibility for the development and implementation of a National Wellbeing Strategy
• Support for companies that invest in new and developing technologies (including AR, VR, and AI) for the purposes of improving health, safety and wellbeing standards in the workplace, enabling them to offset up to 5% annual investment
• Health, safety and wellbeing training required by law included in a new ‘Skills Tax Credit’ when reforms are made to skills-based education
• Adequate funding for the Health and Safety Executive (including the Building Safety Regulator) and for local authorities who hold statutory duties for the regulation and inspection of health and safety.

Peter McGettrick, Chairman of British Safety Council, said:

“This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK’s groundbreaking Health and Safety at Work Act, which put our country at the forefront of ensuring safer workplaces and helped us become a world leader in workplace health and safety. Ahead of the next General Election, we are calling on all political parties, party leaders, and those seeking election to commit to making the next 50 years the safest in our nation’s history.

“This is about putting health, safety, and wellbeing at the heart of economic growth, to ensure the UK remains economically competitive the future. That will require everyone – from policymakers and political leaders to employers and staff – to commit to a future where economic growth and worker wellbeing actively support each other.”

Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of British Safety Council, said:

“As part of our Manifesto, we are calling on the next Government to take a truly joined-up approach to health, safety, and wellbeing. That’s why we want to see a new Ministerial Portfolio with responsible for wellbeing and a new National Wellbeing Strategy. We believe this would improve and support better health at work, unlock lost productivity, and grow the economy.

“The world of work is changing, and we want companies that invest in new and developing technologies – like AR, VR, and AI – for the purposes of improving workplace health, safety and wellbeing to be incentivised, as well as health and safety skills and training required by law supported by a tax credit.

“We also want to see adequate resources allocated to those responsible for regulating health, safety and wellbeing at work, especially the Health and Safety Executive, which despite the progress that’s been made in reducing fatalities and injuries at work has seen nearly 20 per cent of its funding cut since 2010.”

For full details of British Safety Council’s policy calls, and to download a copy of the full Manifesto, click here

Building Safety Act transitional arrangements in England will no longer apply to your project after 6 April 2024 unless you take action

The UK Construction team has published a note highlighting that the transitional arrangements in England under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) will no longer apply to your project after 6 April 2024 unless you take or have taken certain prescribed actions.

In light of the BSA’s transitional period coming to an end on 6 April 2024 and the significant impact this will have on building control processes for ongoing higher risk building works (HRBs) in-scope of the transitional provisions, this note sets out what steps need to be taken for those provisions to continue to apply to ongoing HRBs in England after 6 April 2024. The note also highlights some other important changes introduced by the BSA relating to building control professions that developers should be aware of.

Produced by Dentons, the worlds largest global law firm

Download the PDF here

MPs identify ‘astonishing delays’ in delivery of levelling up projects

The cross-party Public Accounts Committee said no ‘compelling evidence’ has been provided on what has been achieved so far.

“Astonishing delays” have been identified in the delivery of levelling up projects across the country and the Government is unable to provide compelling evidence of what has been achieved, MPs have said.

In a damning report on the progress of key elements of the Government’s flagship pledge to address regional inequalities, the Public Accounts Committee said just over 10% of overall funding available has been spent and is “making a difference on the ground”.

The report highlighted the latest data for September 2023 which showed that of the £10.47 billion in total funding that must be used by 2025/26, local authorities, who are the recipients in most cases, had received £3.7 billion and spent £1.24 billion.

Many projects are said to have been plagued by delays despite being approved on the understanding they were “shovel-ready”.

This would result in 80% of projects funded under round one of the levelling up fund missing their completion deadline of March 2024, the report added.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), which is the lead department for the three existing dedicated funding streams, could not provide “any examples of what had been delivered so far”, the committee said.

But a spokesperson for the department said it was

“to be expected” that spending would increase in later years of the programme, adding: “Buildings do not go up overnight.”

When asked about delays to delivery, DLUHC cited a combination of “project specific issues”, the pandemic and inflation as the causes of lower than expected levels of levelling up spending.

The committee also found “optimism bias” meant projects perceived as ready to start were prioritised over those which could have had more long-term impact.

The ensuing project delays reveal flaws in the original assessments, the report added, with the Government forced to extend deadlines for when funding must be spent.

The committee also identified a “worrying lack of transparency” in DLUHC’s processes for awarding funds, which it said had “wasted scarce resources and caused some local authorities to miss out”.

The department changed the rules for allocating money under the levelling up fund “as it went along”, causing confusion and budgets being wasted by local authorities on bids that could not be successful, the MPs said.

The report cited the example of local authorities learning after they had submitted bids for round two of the levelling up fund that they could not secure cash if they had been successful in round one.

This issue led to 55 councils bidding under rules which meant they had no chance of being successful, it added.

Later DLUHC decided it would only choose bids for funding in round three which had not been successful in round two, leading to local authorities which had waited to bid until this stage missing out.

The report said a more consistent process would have saved “considerable time and money in preparing and submitting ineligible bids”, which cost £30,000 on average to develop.

Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier said:

“The levels of delay that our report finds in one of Government’s flagship policy platforms is absolutely astonishing.

“The vast majority of levelling up projects that were successful in early rounds of funding are now being delivered late, with further delays likely baked in.

“DLUHC appears to have been blinded by optimism in funding projects that were clearly anything but ‘shovel-ready’, at the expense of projects that could have made a real difference.

“We are further concerned, and surprised given the generational ambition of this agenda, that there appears to be no plan to evaluate success in the long-term.”

Dame Meg added that in changing funding rules “mid-process”, the Government was “wasting time and money and hindering transparency”.

She added:

“We will now be seeking to keep a close eye on DLUHC’s progress in unclogging the funding system. Citizens deserve to begin to see the results of delivery on the ground.”

The committee welcomed DLUHC’s aim to simplify the levelling up funding system and reduce administrative burdens, but said the department “needs to continue to do more to embed the changes it has started to make”.

The MPs also said they are “disappointed” that DLUHC has no long-term plans to measure the impact of levelling up funds into the future.

When the levelling up white paper which laid out 12 missions was published in February 2022, the Government pledged to publish an annual report on progress.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 includes a Government commitment to publish a statement of levelling up missions before Parliament on an annual basis.

The first of these was published on January 25 this year and set out the metrics the Government will use to measure progress.

Responding to a the report, Martin Tett, chairman of the Local Government Association’s People and Places Board, said the pandemic and inflation had increased construction costs alongside supply and skills shortages.

Welcoming the Government’s response which provided greater flexibilities on how funding could be spent, he added:

“We need to realise the benefits of joined-up, multi-annual, long-term funding and continue to move away from costly competitive bids between areas, so we can save money, drive up productivity and truly deliver levelling up as envisaged.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and shadow communities secretary, said:

“The Conservatives have utterly abandoned any pretence of trying to achieve their mission to level up Britain.

“This report confirms that the Tories’ begging-bowl approach to funding bids has wasted scarce public resources, forcing local authorities to spend previous time, effort and funds to bid for pots of money, many of which they have no chance of getting.

“Labour will start by ending the sticking-plaster approach peddled by the Conservatives and provide long-term funding settlements to local leaders, giving them greater certainty and the ability to plan for the long term.”

A spokesperson for the DLUHC said:

“We’re proud that we’ve committed £15 billion since 2019 to often overlooked areas, agreeing historic devolution deals, and shifting power and money out of Westminster.

“This money is regenerating town centres, creating new infrastructure and helping to level up communities across the UK.

“Buildings do not go up overnight and these are multi-year programmes, so it is to be expected that the capital spend ramps up in later years. But we will continue to give export support to councils to tackle any delivery blockers so we deliver these vital projects quickly.”

Source: Shropshire Star