In this section...

THE NEED TO BUILD FOR SUCCESS

The start of any new year is an opportunity to reflect on what has happened in the past and to look towards the future. What is certain is that 2011 is going to be a very testing year for the construction industry and FMB members alike.

The FMB External Affairs Department which is responsible for protecting and projecting FMB members will be focussing on a range of campaigns and lobbying activities over the coming months.

These will include:

Brian Berry - Director of External Affairs

Brian Berry - FMB Director of External Affairs

Building for Success. Last year, ahead of the May UK General Election we launched our policy programme for the new government. The ‘Building for Success’ policy programme consists of three core themes - developing skills and training; building a greener Britain; and creating a new business environment – as well as twenty specific policy recommendations for the Coalition Government to address. We will be continuing our lobbying and networking activities within Westminster that we have built up over recent months post the General Election to strengthen our influence on key Bills going through Parliament. Our lobbying activity will also include active engagement with the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland particularly as there will be important elections in all three devolved countries in May. Visit www.fmb.org.uk/news/building-for-success

CONTACT

EMail Brian Berry - brianberry@fmb.org.uk

If you have any ideas on cutting red tape please send your suggestions to Peter O'Connell, FMB Policy Manager at peteroconnell@fmb.org.uk.

Building a Greener Britain. The Coalition Government has committed itself to making this the ‘greenest government’ ever. The flagship of its green policy is the ‘Green Deal’ which forms part of its Energy Security and Green Economy Bill which is now going through Parliament. The FMB, through the commissioning of its independent research reports from Oxford University and the London School of Economics (LSE) has been actively engaged in the policy debate about how best to achieve a low carbon built environment. We are doing this through are regular meetings with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and through our involvement as a Board member of the Existing Homes Alliance which is currently advising the Government on how best to retrofit the UK’s 26 million homes.
Visit www.fmb.org.uk/news/campaigns/building-a-greener-britain
FMB Building Regulations Self- Certification Scheme. A keystone initiative this year will be to develop and operate a Competent Person Self- Certification Scheme. The rationale for the scheme is based on two key drivers.
First, the FMB membership has indicated that there is industry demand for a scheme that covers a number of types of general building work;
Secondly, the current progression towards lower carbon, more energy efficient housing continues to result in more consumer demand for retrofit work to improve the fabric of existing homes. In particular, the introduction of the Green Deal scheme in 2012 will see a substantial increase in consumer demand for solid wall insulation. Against this background therefore, the FMB intends that the scheme will eventually offer as wide a scope of general types of building work as is appropriate to the best interests and needs of all relevant stakeholders. However, we recognise that to attempt introduce a scheme with a wide scope of types of work in a singlestage process would not be appropriate or practicable. We have therefore considered what type would be relevant to include in the initial development of the scheme and the proposed scope is:
- Installation of external solid wall insulation to existing buildings
- Installation of internal solid wall insulation to existing buildings
- Installation of loft insulation to existing buildings
- Installation of insulation to suspended timber floors in existing buildings
- Installation, as replacement, of a window, rooflight, roof window or door in an existing building
- Installation, as a replacement, of the covering of a pitched or flat roof and work carried out by the registered person as a necessary adjunct to that installation (excluding structural alteration and the installation of solar panels).
Housing. The depressed state of the housing market is a key concern to the FMB as members’ work is dependent on a robust housing market. The simple fact is that we are building too few homes for an expanding population. In the aftermath of the recession and major public spending cuts, future forecasts for house building offer even more cause for concern. For house completions in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) Experian forecasts that in 2010, 110,000 homes will have been built; in 2011 this figure will have fallen to 95,000; and in 2012 the figure will rise modestly to 100,000. This is less than half the number of new homes needed just to meet current demand. Against this background the FMB is hoping to commission new research this year about the UK can best tackle the growing housing crisis.
Cut the VAT. The increase in the rate of VAT to 20 percent this month is obviously very disappointing given that we published independent research in March last year demonstrating that a cut would create over 24,000 new jobs in construction and have a multipliers effect of £1.4 billion in the economy as a whole. However, there is cross-party support for a cut as many politicians understand and support the rationale behind our proposal. We also know from last year’ membership survey that members want the FMB to keep up the fight. So, this year we will continue to present the case to the media and politicians across the UK about the impact the VAT rise will have on the informal economy and to lobby for the rationalisation of the current exemptions for energy saving materials which are poorly understood and applied.
Visit www.cutthevat.co.uk
Procurement. The need to simplify the procurement process and to address the problem arising from the greater use of Framework Agreements is an issue that members have been flagging up. There is a need for us to build on the recommendation in Building for Success and to work with partners on how best to simply the procurement process to allow construction SMEs to flourish. It is at least encouraging that following our meeting with the Construction Minister, Mark Prisk MP, last year that the Government is at least willing to listen to the FMB and is sympathetic to the need to open up the markets to SMEs.
Skills and Training. The work of the Cross-Industry Construction Apprenticeships Task Force will be critical over the coming months. Impending spending cuts will knock the construction industry and impact on the number of apprenticeship places. The FMB will continue to champion the need to protect skills and development in the industry if we are to retain a sufficient skills base for the future.
Visit www.ccatf.org.uk

CUTTING RED TAPE - NEW BUILDING STANDARDS SCRAPPED

The Housing Minister, Grant Shapps MP, has announced that he is scrapping new proposals that could have cost developers thousands of pounds extra to build new homes, and pledged an overhaul of existing building standards that make it hard for developers to complete their projects. The Minister confirmed that the Government will not introduce a new set of building standards that were proposed for many of the homes built with Government funding or on public sector land, which would have cost developers an extra £8,000 for every home. The Government believes that the national building standards are sufficient to deliver high quality homes, and that it is an unfair and unnecessary expense for developers to require additional building standards for public build, at a time when the country desperately needs to build more homes.

The Minister has also pledged to end the ‘alphabet soup’ of local building standards and red tape that blight efforts to get developments started, and sweep away the bureaucratic assessment regimes that accompany them. He has invited the industry to come forward and help develop a new system for local standards so new development meets the needs of local communities, without placing an unnecessary strain on developers.