Legacy reception – reflections from Lord Stunell

Never forget that the construction sector is the strategic industry in the UK

Speaking at the Construction Innovation Hub’s Legacy reception in the House of Lords Rt Hon Lord Stunell OBE shared his hopes and dreams for the sector.

In terms of value to the economy, jobs provided, and of course, the actual product and its use, there is absolutely no alternative to having a strong construction industry. Every manifesto promise that every party makes, whether it’s 40 hospitals or 300,000 homes or 600 new schools, or indeed meeting Britain’s net zero target by 2050 is absolutely dependent on the strategic importance of the construction industry.

Of course, that means that the construction industry and its supply chain has to have the skills, the capacity and the capability to deliver that. And to make this happen we need to get the strategic position of construction fully understood in this building and in the national dialogue.

So I very warmly welcome the work of the Construction Innovation Hub. I think the Hub has got at least two big challenges to face.

The first is to devise workable solutions to the deep seated problems of the industry. And those include and certainly aren’t limited to the shortage in productivity, the shortage in profits, the shortage of time and money, always the shortage of skills and the shortage of trust between participants in the industry.

It is clear the foundations are laid for a system that is going to be very helpful indeed towards meeting that first challenge. You are meeting the first challenge of devising a solution, but that is not the same as implementing such a solution.

So your second challenge, all of you, not just the people who’ve devised this, but the rest of you who’ve collaborated and helped to build it. Your challenge is really just beginning. How are the good ideas, the new procedures and the 21st century methods going to filter through to those 90,000 employees driving around the country in white vans? They are the people who are actually going to deliver the retrofit of 20 million owner occupied homes to produce the zero energy results.

You’re meeting the first challenge. You’ve devised something now you’ve got to meet the second challenge, which is making sure it’s implemented at every level in our diverse and strategic industry.

Congratulations on coming so far. And good luck with the next step.

This article includes extracts from Lord Stunell’s speech at the Hub’s Legacy reception on 7 September 2022

Please see some photos from our legacy reception at the House of Lords in September 2022: