Construction sector 'key to boosting growth through infrastructure'
17th July 2012

The UK's economic recovery from the global downturn needs to be driven by infrastructure development and the construction sector will play a major role in this, it has been claimed. According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), infrastructure renewal is essential and needs to be enacted urgently in order to underpin long-term growth.

Commenting at the Creating Britain's Future campaign launch, Rhian Kelly, CBI Director, explained: "To get spades in the ground on infrastructure delivery, there must be an urgent focus across the UK on bringing forward repair, maintenance and improvement projects, for example on roads, to deliver immediate and tangible results in terms of local jobs and growth."

She added that there is an estimated £250 billion worth of infrastructure renewal required in Britain to generate economic expansion.

The CBI call comes as leaders of a series of the UK's largest construction companies issued an open letter to the Government calling for the industry to be employed to boost the economy.

Published in the Daily Telegraph, the communication highlighted the successful delivery of the 2012 Olympic venues as evidence of the sector's success and stressed the importance to the nation's competitiveness of assets such as roads, railways, schools, factories, homes and hospitals.

"The construction industry has one of the highest multipliers of any industry - every £1 invested in construction generates £2.84 in economic activity," the business leaders stated, noting the sector is not reliant on exports and overseas trade.

Building organizations have launched the Creating Britain's Future campaign to boost future growth and the CBI recently published a report entitled 'Bridging the Gap - Backing the Construction Sector to Generate Jobs, which is available here.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a decline of 6.3 per cent in construction sector output over the year to May 2012.