In response to the Construction PMI data, the Federation of Master Builders has warned that a lack of long-term thinking coupled with material prices and supply chain disruption are limiting the construction industry’s recovery potential.
The lack of long-term thinking coupled with material prices and supply chain disruption are limiting the construction industry’s recovery potential, it claims.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said that construction’s slow recovery will stall without clear action to inject greater certainty into the sector.
“This means tackling rising material prices and supply chains disruption, but also committing to long-term support for builders to build back better, and greener,” he continued. “The Stamp Duty holiday extension announced in yesterday’s Budget will help provide the boost house builders clearly need, as demonstrated by (the) PMI data. But the Chancellor did not go far enough.
“It’s absolutely not too late for the Government to bring forward additional policies that unlock the potential of builders to support jobs and green growth. In the short term, a temporary cut in VAT on repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) works would generate an economic stimulus worth £51 billion and create almost 345,000 new jobs in construction and the wider economy.
“For the long-term, the Government should bring forward a National Retrofit Strategy that provides an ambitious vision for what net-zero looks like, and local builders contribution to that goal.”
