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New strategy set to strengthen construction sector

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release (2008/109) issued by The Government News Network on 11 June 2008

New targets to improve the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the UK's construction sector were unveiled by the Government and industry today.

Business Minister Shriti Vadera launched the joint industry-Government Strategy for Sustainable Construction which sets out challenging but achievable targets to be delivered by industry. These include commitments to:

* Recruit 230,000 additional trained construction workers by 2010

* Cut the number of work-related deaths by 10 per cent year on year

* Supply an extra 13,500 apprenticeship placements by 2010

* Achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the amount of construction, demolition and excavation waste to landfill

* Ensure 25 per cent of materials used in construction projects are responsibly sourced by 2012

* Ensure all construction projects over £1 million have biodiversity surveys carried out and instigate the necessary actions by 2012

Shriti Vadera said:

"Our aim is to become a world leader in sustainable construction. An efficient construction sector is essential for the investment in infrastructure and buildings that underpin our competitiveness.

"With the current pressures such as the cost of fuel presenting an extra challenge for the industry, it is even more important that we encourage the sector to perform as efficiently and sustainably as possible. Improvements in these areas will save costs and increase profitability in the long-term.

"This strategy, which has uniquely been developed jointly by Government and business, will provide greater certainty over what is expected from the sector in future, from training and developing skills to tackling the challenges of climate change."

Buildings are responsible for almost half of the country's carbon emissions, produce around a third of landfill waste and account for a quarter of all raw materials used in the economy. It is therefore important that industry changes the way it designs and builds to reduce its environmental impact, and to enable the UK to meet its carbon reduction commitments. The Strategic Forum for Construction is today also publishing its 'Construction Commitments' to promote best practice across the industry, along with its latest four-year targets to ensure their delivery. These commitments support the Strategy for Sustainable Construction.

As part of this industry initiative, key government departments have today also signed up to the 'Construction Commitments', which include best practice on procurement such as collaborative working across the supply chain and whole life costing.

Strategic Forum for Construction Chairman, Mike Davies said: "I have been really encouraged by the way that industry and Government have worked together to develop this Strategy. It establishes a comprehensive agenda with clear outcomes that will help create the more sustainable built environment that we all want to see developed.

"The Construction Commitments which the Strategic Forum is also launching today set the framework within which we want to see the industry and its clients - including government - work in order to meet the targets that have been set. The Government has taken a lead with a number of key departments already announcing that they will adopt the Commitments, and I want to see every company in the industry demonstrate their support for this agenda by putting their name to the Commitments."

Notes to Editors:

1. The UK's construction industry is significant. It employs some three million workers, accounts for 8% of GDP, while its output is worth around £100 billion a year.

2. A full copy of the Strategy for Sustainable Construction can be found at http://www.tinyurl.com/yua68g

3. The Strategic Forum for Construction comprises of six members: Construction Industry Council, Construction Clients Group, Construction Confederation, the Construction Products Association, NSCC/SEC Group and the TUC. Key themes for the Forum's work are sustainability, integration and people issues including health and safety.

4. The Strategic Forum's Vision is for the UK construction industry to realise maximum value for all clients, end users and stakeholders and exceed their expectations through the consistent delivery of world-class products.

5. The Strategic Forum's Construction Commitments and targets in support of these can be found on the Strategic Forum website at http://www.strategicforum.org.uk.

6. The public sector bodies who have today signed up to the Construction Commitments are members of the Public Sector Construction Clients Forum. They include the Highways Agency, Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools and Families, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Department for Work and Pensions, the Office of Government Commerce, Ministry of Defence - Defence Estates, The Housing Corporation, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the Local Government Task Force and, along with all the RDAs, the South West Regional Development Agency. In addition, Wates and Land Securities, who sit on PSCCF as representatives from industry and private sector clients, have signed up along with 'Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment'.

7. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform helps UK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world. It promotes business growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads the better regulation agenda and champions free and fair markets. It is the shareholder in a number of Government-owned assets and it works to secure, clean and competitively priced energy supplies.