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Five year forecast – what is the Conservative government planning in the construction sector?

  • United Kingdom
  • Construction and engineering

14-05-2015

Whilst the dissolution of Parliament in the run up to the General Election has meant a temporary halt in the passing of new legislation, there has been no shortage of intrigue about what may be on the horizon for the construction sector.

In the early part of the month, it seemed that all smart money was on a coalition government. As a result, it was difficult to predict which parties’ manifestos would make it into the government melting pot, and which policies would remain on the table once the political deals had been struck. Now, with the Conservative Party having won an outright majority, focus turns squarely to its own manifesto and the policies within it. With that in mind, we have summarised the key Conservative policies which could impact the industry as follows:

HOUSING

NEW HOUSING

SOCIAL HOUSING

By 2020, two hundred thousand new starter homes will be built. First time buyers under the age of 40 will receive a government-funded 20% discount.

The Builder’s Finance Fund will lend to developers of Schemes between 5 and 250 units until 2017.

A “Help To Buy ISA” will be introduced to help boost first time buyers’ deposits.

Public land will be released to facilitate the building of 150,000 new homes.

Reduction in social housing funding – increasing the reliance of social landlords on private capital and higher affordable rents.

New social housing provision to be cross-subsidised by more mixed tenure developments.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE

ROAD NETWORK

RAIL NETWORK

£7.7 billion to be invested in the English strategic road network by 2020.

 Support pledged for the  “One North” proposals which will see £65 billion invested in rail improvements across the north of England from 2020 onwards.

Crossrail 2 supported in principle, subject to further development of funding and cost information.

Full support for HS2.

 

ENERGY

RETROFIT

ENERGY AND RENEWABLES

Energy Company Obligation will be phased out, cutting the available funding for home energy efficiency improvements.

 

 

 Greater investment in - and emphasis on - solar energy and offshore wind.

Subsidy cuts and tighter planning regulation for onshore wind developments. A new moratorium on onshore wind farms from 2020.

Simon Oats, Product Group Head

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