With UK GDP growth having slowed to a listless 0.1%, the government will be focusing an even keener eye on the growth-driving sectors set out in its Invest 2035 green paper for industrial strategy over the next decade. However, the strategy currently risks becoming another example of UK policymaking overlooking the role of construction as the engine through which wider industry and economic growth can be powered and delivered.

From building state-of-the-art manufacturing and lab space for life sciences to delivering decarbonised energy grids and AI data centres that will power a technological revolution, the responsibility of enabling this growth falls to construction. This comes at a time when, faced with significant capacity and skills challenges, tight margins and a heightened risk of insolvency, our sector is on unsteady ground.

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