The extra resources announced by the Chancellor in today\u2019s Autumn Statement for social housing and infrastructure investment will be welcomed by the construction industry.<\/p>\n
The promised additional funding should help to address the need for more affordable homes and tackle the shortfalls in the UK\u2019s transport infrastructure. It will also help to offset the impact of faltering in private sector investment on industry workloads.<\/p>\n
Social housing providers already have a strong development pipeline, but the realisation of planned projects has been frustrated by recent changes in Government policy. It is vital that the measures announced in today\u2019s statement are implement as soon as possible to enable projects to be quickly brought to site.<\/p>\n
The provision of an additional \u00a31.3 billion of additional funds for local and national road projects should help Highways England and councils to accelerate small scale improvements to address \u2018pinch points\u2019 in the road network. These schemes can potentially help tackle congestion and improve the UK\u2019s competitive position. Glenigan data reveals a firm pipeline of projects that have cleared the planning hurdles and could potentially be quickly brought on to site.<\/p>\n
The Government\u2019s commitment to supporting a sustained increase in investment in built environment is also encouraging. The new National Productivity Investment Fund promises to add \u00a323 billion in high-value investment from 2017-18 to 2021-22, with the government target this spending at areas that are critical for productivity: housing, research and development and economic infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"