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The British Property Federation has called on the government to boost business confidence in real estate in the wake of the uncertainty surrounding the UK鈥檚 Brexit deal.

The British Property Federation (BPF), which represents many of the large commercial developers, says the real estate sector is 鈥渇aced with an environment that is extremely fragile and uncertain鈥� and that government needs to remove barriers to growth.

The comments come after the government this week lost its Supreme Court appeal against giving Parliament a vote on triggering Article 50, leaving it with a race against time to get MPs and peers鈥� backing before its deadline of March.

Speaking at a BPF event this week, Melanie Leech, BPF chief executive, said: 鈥淥ur sector relies on long term decision making. Decisions that are made today will mean that in 10 years time we have created a successful post Brexit economy, so it鈥檚 critical that we maintain confidence now鈥�.

The risk to investor confidence is the first point in the BPF鈥檚 鈥淏rexit manifesto鈥�, which also highlights the need for competitive tax policies, investing in infrastructure, attracting global talent and tackling the housing crisis.

At the launch of the manifesto this week the BPF said all the points had been priorities before the EU referendum but that the vote to leave puts many of them at risk 鈥渋f we don鈥檛 get Brexit right鈥�.

Rob Noel, Land Securities chief executive and BPF committee member, said speculative development has fallen dramatically since the Brexit vote.

He said: 鈥淲e are now not starting speculative development because our customer [鈥�] doesn鈥檛 know what the trading environment is in the UK and its propensity to make decisions is limited and therefore demand is taken out of the equation, [鈥�] so we won鈥檛 allocate capital into that market.

鈥淭he reason we are saying [this] to government is because our whole market, which makes up 6% of GDP, depends on a healthy demand. If we don鈥檛 have that we won鈥檛 build.鈥�

Many of the developers at BPF event did not think a 鈥渉ard鈥� Brexit, whereby the UK leaves the single market and customs union, would inevitably have negative consequences.

They welcomed Theresa May鈥檚 announcement last week that she does not intend to be part of the single market as providing clarity on the issue but warned that a drawn out transitional arrangement could be damaging.

Land Securities鈥� Noel said: 鈥淚f a hard Brexit is inevitable then don鈥檛 procrastinate [鈥�], because it is procrastination and the extension of negotiation timetables that lengthens and broadens a period of uncertainty which erodes market confidence.鈥�

On the question of improving skills in the construction industry, David Atkins, Hammerson chief executive, said the apprenticeship levy, due to come into force in April, was perceived by companies as a tax. He said: 鈥淚f the government is serious about employing younger people then make it a tax break on employing apprentices.鈥�