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鈥淚t鈥檚 a global region, and you want people to be able to connect in globally and do business easily. That鈥檚 a huge thing for the North-west,鈥� said Ian Aldous, director for UK North at Mace. 鈥淏ut even that鈥檚 been unhinged a little bit by the confidence from decisions like HS2 and Airport City being reimagined. So yes, that is a big challenge, but a big opportunity is to be had if we can have commitent to big infrastructure.鈥�

Aldous was speaking at the 好色先生TV the Future Think Tank roundtable in Manchester, which was held days before the general election to provide a comprehensive understanding of the sector鈥檚 priorities in order to identify key challenges, opportunities and solutions that will shape the construction agenda for this pivotal region.

The session, chaired by 好色先生TV鈥檚 editorial director, Chlo毛 McCulloch, focused on what the sector needs to do in order to capitalise on and drive potential policy decisions, and attempted to discern where the industry requires support from government and in which areas it can drive change itself.

The session was part of the wider 好色先生TV the Future Think Tank, which is being run in partnership with Constructing Excellence and supported by sponsors Fenwick Elliot, Gleeds and RLB. 

Uncertainty around HS2 and transport infrastructure

Aldous said there is deep-rooted disappointment about the decisions made on the North and HS2 but that it will bring hope if the government commits to other big infrastructure.

鈥淚t is such a shame that HS2 looks like it鈥檚 stopping in the Midlands. But there is a great opportunity with the Northern Powerhouse Rail,鈥� he added. Aldous said that while there have been efforts to get private investment to keep the Manchester leg of HS2 alive, there is still optimism that the government will invest towards this.

Simon Tolson, senior partner at Fenwick Elliott, agreed that the lack of commitment from government for infrastructure in the country鈥檚 north has been detrimental for the region in general, not just the construction sector. He said: 鈥淏ecause of what happened last October, with pulling the parts of the network up here, a lot of investment is just gone. International companies were thinking about locating here and they just aren鈥檛 any more.鈥�

For his part, Stephen O鈥橫alley, chief executive and founding director of Civic Engineers, said the impact of the HS2 cancellation has been significant for all parts of the construction sector because investor uncertainty is holding up other schemes. 

鈥淗S2 was meant to have a station here, and all of a sudden the promoters of [office and residential] schemes are going to be holding them up. They鈥檙e saying, 鈥業s it coming? Is there another version of this coming?鈥� That really does affect their plans.鈥�

He said that long-term certainty in infrastructure is vital if the region鈥檚 construction sector is to flourish. 

But O鈥橫alley did add that the industry needs to reflect on some of the drivers for the cancellation within its control, pointing out that it seems prices for consultancy on HS2 in some instances were too high. He added: 鈥淵ou kind of go, 鈥榯hat鈥檚 just profiteering and that鈥檚 just gross, [and it means] everybody suffers鈥�.鈥�

O鈥橫alley also flagged the need for investment in infrastructure at a smaller scale, saying: 鈥淭ransport for Greater Manchester鈥檚 (TFGM) own statistics talk about how 80% of peak-time journeys were less than 5km. So converting those journeys to walkable or cyclable choices is a question that is about the quality of the infrastructure, and that鈥檚 still not where it needs to be.鈥� 

The impact of devolution

Despite the challenges the region has seen from an infrastructure perspective in the past 12 to 18 months the panel did express optimism over the impact of devolution in the north, suggesting the devolved powers could help the region to have a greater say over its decisions for infrastructure.

鈥淭he role of devolution in some of these infrastructure approaches has been really good. It鈥檚 given the powers to local people to do the right thing,鈥� said Aldous.

He added that the way Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool city-region mayor Steve Rotherham have 鈥渓inked together鈥� in the region is a stepping stone to unifying the North-west. 

Paul Munro, UK and Europe commercial director at Currie & Brown, concurred. He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually rooted [in delivering] what the locality needs rather than being imposed from Westminster. So it鈥檚 really powerful. That is what devolution in the North-west would means for the region.鈥�  

鈥淗S2 was meant to have a station here, and all of a sudden the promoters of [office and residential] schemes are going to be holding them up. They鈥檙e saying, 鈥業s it coming? Is there another version of this coming?鈥� That really does affect their plans.鈥�

Stephen O鈥橫alley, Civic Engineers

Munro also suggested that the governmental role of the chief construction adviser should be reintroduced in order to lead the way in boosting private finance in delivering infrastructure projects. The former chief construction advisers were Paul Morrel, formerly of Davis Langdon, as well as Peter Hansford, who has previously worked in engineering roles at Aecom and Amey. 

Finding the funding to retrofit at scale

The panel also agreed that the industry is in need of a dedicated and unified strategy in order to capitalise on the work required as part of a wide-scale retrofit regime.

Gwen Beeken, managing director at ProcurePlus, said that retrofit projects are often slowed down by funding delays, meaning if clients and projects had easier and more consistent access to finance then programmes could take place at pace.

Beeken said: 鈥淕etting those projects to delivery has been really difficult, because the money comes to market late and there is a lack of clarity surrounding how that money should be used for the project.鈥�

She also suggested that there is too much pressure on the industry during the delivery process: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get any time to innovate a solution, if what you鈥檙e trying to do is rush to a deadline to achieve something that has to be then documented in a very static manner.鈥� 

While calling for government support, the panel also felt that the attitude of the region towards retrofit needs to change. James Hind, partner and sustainability lead at SimpsonHaugh, said that the region needs to switch up its priorities. 鈥淚n Manchester we have got a huge number of buildings that are still under-occupied, and there needs to be much more of an incentivised programme to get adaptive reuse back in the primary decision-making process rather than the reliance on new-build.鈥�

Tolson then highlighted how the region could learn from Newcastle鈥檚 approach to retrofit. When describing the city鈥檚 method, he said: 鈥淚nstead of refurbishing Victorian terraced houses, they [Newcastle] were doing blocks or small districts and doing PV and getting the insulation right.鈥� 

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get any time to innovate a solution, if what you鈥檙e trying to do is rush to a deadline to achieve something that has to be then documented in a very static manner.鈥� 

Gwen Beeken, ProcurePlus

 

Danny Hope, regional director for the North-west at Stantec, stressed that the region has a lot of potential to create more residential schemes through carrying out retrofits. He mentioned that after looking into sites owned by an unnamed local authority, he noticed there was huge potential for residential development. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievable how much underused space there is which could be refurbished, retrofitted [or] changed鈥� to a residential scheme. 

Hope added: 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got these underused facilities, this huge amount of wasted energy 鈥� lights on in every room, but there is no one in there. It鈥檚 boiling; the heating鈥檚 on. All these little things add up to something that鈥檚 pretty big.鈥�

Sheldon Walsh, partner at Ryder Architecture, said there are numerous tools, design choices and products that would help with decarbonisation that are beyond the scope of current legislation.

He said: 鈥淎s an example, one thing that we could do on every single construction project retrofit and new-build is triple-glazing. It is a known technology that will reduce energy demand massively 鈥� just something as simple as that.

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not Part L, it鈥檚 not legislation, it鈥檚 not statutory, therefore it鈥檚 not being commonly used. It鈥檚 going to take time for the Approved Documents to catch up with that. But that鈥檚 the sort of thing that we could do on every new project, and it will massively impact.鈥�

Engaging young people and addressing the skills gap

Madeline Sillence, director at Turner & Townsend, said not enough is being done to educate young people about what it is like to work in the industry in the region.

鈥淚f anybody walked into a school and talked to one of the children about the construction industry, they鈥檇 get a really straightforward answer around what it is that they do,鈥� said Sillence. She and others around the table believe there needs to be a greater level of investment towards raising awareness about the different career paths within the industry. One challenge identified in the discussions was that to reach beyond young people who have a relative who already works in the industry, investment needs to be targeted at creating equal opportunities and ensuring that that socio-economic divisions are not reinforced. 

What industry leaders in the North-west want

With the roundtable drawing to a close after an hour and a half of in-depth discussions, the panel were asked about what they want to see from the new government. 

Beeken said that she wants more people to be upskilled with retrofit skills and that more job opportunities are needed for people who have completed their training for a role within the industry. She said: 鈥淭he CITB is actually doing a reasonable job of trying to get that [training in place], but what they鈥檙e not then doing is linking it to employment. So, it鈥檚 great that we do all these training opportunities, but there鈥檚 got to be a job at the end of it.鈥�

Robust targets for carbon in the built environment were also identified by the panel as a potential boost to jobs in the north of England, and everyone felt that the net zero agenda has to be driven by policy from the top. 

Hope said the transport system is the biggest challenge for the North-west. 鈥淲e would all like to travel more greenly. The road system is rubbish. We have got a lot of motorways, and there鈥檚 one problem: because they are all connected, it creates carnage everywhere.鈥�

Hope鈥檚 main ask from the government was to 鈥渞einstate HS2鈥� and to improve east-west connectivity. There was broad agreement from the panel on this point, which was underlined by others highlighting how expensive the region鈥檚 transport is for such a poor service, which acts as a brake on the local economy鈥檚 productivity.

There was a genuine sense of unfairness from everyone around the table about the north-south divide when in comes to transport investment per head of the population, with the money spent in the South-east of England dwarfing the rest of the country鈥檚 funding. As Aldous put it, 鈥淚t should be equitable. If there is a bigger population in one area, that鈥檚 fine; it should get more money 鈥� but not more money per head.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he galling thing is that when big infrastructure projects get cancelled, the money doesn鈥檛 get recirculated around the area. But the big projects in the south do go ahead. It is a big powerhouse up here; it is just under-utilised.鈥� For the North-west to take important steps forward, it needs national politicians 鈥渢o do what you say you鈥檙e going to do鈥�, said Aldous 鈥� in other words, it needs some certainty to get on and build its future.