CEF SURVEY CALLS FOR URGENT GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE

The most recent Construction Employers Federation, CEF survey of local construction companies conducted in July represents the views of around 200 businesses with combined turnover exceeding £1.5 billion. The findings from the organisation, the certified representative body for the construction industry in Northern Ireland, strongly suggest that the greatest single risk to jobs and the survival of local businesses is the slow pace of government’s return to business and the procurement of much needed construction work, exacerbated by a nervous commercial sector considering its options in retail, hospitality and office accommodation.

According to the CEF survey, at the start of this year there were reasonable prospects of a revival in the economy generally and construction in particular was looking forward to a revival of fortunes after several years in the doldrums. The region was emerging from three years of political absenteeism by local representatives and there was at last clarity around the big question of Brexit, albeit many practical issues remained to be clarified.

Westminster had allocated an increased capital budget for the Executive in addition to which approximately one billion pounds of funds was found to support the New Decade, New Approach initiative and entice the parties back to the business of government.

Then, on the cusp of this promising upturn in activity, Covid-19 emerged and has monopolised the political and economic agenda ever since.

The most recent CEF survey of local construction companies suggest that the greatest single risk to jobs and the survival of local businesses is the slow pace of government’s return to business and the procurement of much needed construction work, exacerbated by a nervous commercial sector considering its options in retail, hospitality and office accommodation.

CEF’s incoming Managing Director, Mark Spence commented: “In any other year, the CEF would typically be calling for additional budgets. This time, the call is simply for the budgets that have already been allocated, to be spent before the end of March 2021 at which point unspent monies risk being returned to Westminster.

“The Finance Minister Conor Murphy, in a recent meeting with the CEF was clear he has no intention of allowing NI budgets to be returned to Treasury, but in order for that to be the case, urgent action is required to refocus, procure and award contracts.”

CEF represents a sector sustaining around 65,000 skilled local jobs and with the impending cessation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, without a clear pipeline of work, exactly half of the businesses surveyed anticipate making significant redundancies. The frustration is that these job losses could be greatly reduced if government would proceed with much needed investment to address the years of underfunding in roads, water infrastructure, social housing, hospitals and schools.

Mark Spence continued: “In the eye of a storm such as this pandemic, no-one expects perfect decision-making; these are unprecedented times. However, we do need the wheels of government to start turning with more urgency and we look across the Irish Sea with some envy at the political impetus behind the English construction sector which is being primed to build the economy out of recession.”

Major ‘flagship’ projects e.g. Casement Stadium, York St Interchange, the A5, that should have been delivered years ago have been put on hold, each for understandable reasons, but the decision making processes must now be swift to deliver these key projects and their associated economic benefits. However, where flagship projects have stalled, the available budgets must instead be diverted to shovel ready, smaller schemes, e.g. local water and roads infrastructure, social housing, urban landscaping, school refurbishments, Health estate reconfigurations.

There are also many green initiatives that could be implemented such as in England where homeowners and social housing providers are being heavily subsidised to invest in upgrading the thermal efficiency of their properties. This would not only aid the environment and address fuel poverty, but also retain important skills within the industry and offer training opportunities of young people and unemployed.

Mark Spence concluded: “If this Assembly finds itself at the end of the financial year having underspent its allocated budgets and handing back money to Westminster, it must be held accountable to those whose jobs have been lost unnecessarily.”

Michael McDonnell Managing Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine

Email: michael@irishconstruction.com      WWW.MCDMEDIA.IE