CIOB urges rethink of “Inefficient and debilitating” UK construction model

Construction is said to be the most volatile major sector of the UK economy. Image: Adobe Stock

The report, Capacity Constraints in Construction: Rethinking the Business Environment, looks at some of the industry’s biggest challenges including recruitment, training and retention and the volatile nature of the sector, which results in hundreds of construction businesses collapsing each year.

CIOB says it wants to drive policy makers and industry leaders to look beyond short-term fixes and explore longer-term solutions that not only alleviate immediate challenges but also shift the sector towards being more resilient, progressive and productive in the future.

CIOB and the economist Brian Green compiled the report, which aims to explain to policy makers how the current business environment for the industry is responsible for many of the ongoing issues and how it can potentially be shifted to create a more stable environment for construction businesses of all sizes.

“Construction is regarded as the most volatile major sector of the economy and it repeatedly faces capacity challenges,” said Brian Green.

“This means firms within the sector shape themselves to withstand swings between having too much work and too little resource and having too little work and too much resource. It is inefficient and debilitating to the industry.”