CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > August 2020 21 POLICY: 2 from capital investment projects sees £5bn being bought forward from future budgets, with the emphasis on the following areas: • £1.5bn in 2020 for hospital maintenance and expansion - with the government committed to building 40 brand new hospitals over the course of this Parliament • £100m for 29 projects on the road network - plus £10m for development work to unblock rail bottlenecks in Manchester • £560m and £200m for repairs and upgrades to schools and FE colleges in 2020 • £300m for various upgrade projects for the Court estate, prisons and youth offender places • £900m from central government for various ‘shovel ready’ local authority projects over 2 years, as well as £96m to accelerate investment in town centres and high streets • In September 2021, construction will start on the first of 50 projects of a £1bn 10-year school rebuilding programme • The delayed National Infrastructure Strategy will be published later this autumn which is expected to provide further information on infrastructure projects, flood defences, road and rail and waste management. In addition, the planning regime and red tape will be overhauled to ensure delays are kept to a minimum. It should be remembered this money is for England only. There are further plans for the devolved nations, although this will involve Westminster working with each of the different administrations to determine where spending is allocated. Other measures announced included the publication of the National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement pipeline. The pipeline contains up to £37bn worth of future contract value works based across over 260 projects and programmes for the next two years. Although the labour market has already witnessed a series of high-profile job losses in a wide range of sectors, the skills crisis in construction continues. Projects such as HS2 and the ambitious plans for house building and the UK’s road network will help stimulate growth in the plant sector, showing the continuing and well-established need for new entrants to the industry. With a raft of people now on the labour market, this is an opportunity for our sector to show the benefits and opportunities of working in it. The last months have shown it is right to plan for and expect, the unexpected. Time will tell in terms of whether the downturn was indeed longer than expected. Yet it has raised the profile of construction and its key role in driving economic growth. The challenge for all parties now is to take advantage of the government’s plans, with construction doing everything it can to make sure it meets its side of the bargain. TOWER CRANES UK LIMITED www.towercranesuk.co.uk 2-3 Little Burrow, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 4SP 020 8238 7000 info@towercranesuk.co.uk