Government ‘Needs To Invest In Construction’

The UK government needs to plough some serious investment into the construction sector, particularly infrastructure projects and schemes to build more council houses.

This is the opinion of Unite, which merged with construction union Ucatt at the beginning of this year.

Speaking to Morning Star, Gail Cartmail, Unite acting general secretary, said that the latest figures on UK construction output released by the Office for National Statistics revealed that the country’s economy is still weak and “highly vulnerable to economic fluctuations”.

“We call on the government to increase investment in construction infrastructure projects especially in the north and the Midlands where construction growth has been slower,” Ms Cartmail asserted.

The union is also recommending that the government put more money into new social housing projects, with Unite claiming this would not only help alleviate the country’s housing crisis, but also provide jobs and apprenticeships while supporting the UK’s house building sector.

Earlier this month Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) released their UK construction PMI, with the index showing a slowdown within the nation’s construction industry, largely as a result of weaker house building activity.

This slower housing activity offset a rebound in both the commercial and civil engineering sectors.

Director of customer relationships at CIPS Duncan Brock described the housing sector as “slower and stuttering” in March, noting that because it has been the main driver of growth in the construction industry for some time, the fall in activity had a knock-on effect to the wider construction sector.

If you need insulated roofing sheets for a construction project in Leeds, contact us to find out how we can help.