The Coronavirus has sent shockwaves through the world economy, with almost every industry suffering from disruption and financial headaches. While the Covid-19 threat remains, restrictions to our working and social lives are slowly being eased. But how are industries going to adapt to this ‘new normal’?

To help the construction industry bounce back from the Coronavirus, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) have published a thorough recovery plan to kick-start the sector. In today’s blog, we breakdown their Roadmap to Recovery to find the key information for construction workers and businesses.

What is the CLC?

The Construction Leadership Council is an independent advisory body that seeks to improve the UK construction industry. Sitting between the government and businesses, their aim is to maximise the potential of the sector by improving industry efficiency, growth, and sustainability.

The body is made up of a number of leading industry figures, including CEO's from some of the country’s biggest construction firms. The CLC is highly influential in forming national strategies to improve the industry. During the Coronavirus, their expertise will be vital in establishing a smooth and effective strategy for construction as we move out of the first wave of restriction measures.

What is the Roadmap to Recovery?

The Roadmap to Recovery is a comprehensive strategy that has been put together by the council to help the industry recover and thrive as the country moves out of lockdown restrictions. The strategy lays out how construction can play a major role in the national economic recovery from Coronavirus. The CLC see this as an opportunity not just to start UK construction back up, but a chance to re-evaluate and improve the sector going forward. This includes implementing new strategies to modernise UK construction, by improving digital and manufacturing technologies, ramping up efforts to decarbonise and delivering safer buildings.

By creating this strategy, The CLC hope they can create a consensus across the industry and receive reassurances from the Government as to the importance of construction to the overall economy and national recovery effort. As stated in their plans, they believe…

“failure to act by the government…risks the industry lapsing into a longer-term recession, which erodes capability and skills, and leaves a smaller, weaker sector as a legacy".

How will the strategy be implemented?

The Roadmap to Recovery is broken down into three distinct phases to be delivered incrementally over the next two years:

1. Restart

The first phase of recovery to be implemented over the first three months seeks to get the industry back up and running by increasing output, maximising employment, and minimising disruption.

2. Reset

This next stage aims to repair and strengthen the industries supply chains by driving demand and increasing productivity. This phase will be delivered between 3-12 months of the recovery strategy.

3. Reinvent

This final step looks to use the disruption of the Coronavirus to make long-term improvements to the way the construction industry works. The CLC aim the Reinvent stage to “transform the industry, deliver better value, collaboration, and partnerships”. This will take place over the 12-24 period following restart.

How this plan looks to improve the industry

This recovery plan aims to take advantage of this unique situation to improve the industry by implementing strategies to meet long-term objectives set by the Government and the CLC. Let’s take a look at some the key aims:

Industry Investment and Innovation

To drive the long-term prosperity for the sector, it is essential it receives the investment it needs to thrive. This will allow for the continued innovation needed to make the countries construction output more efficient, safer and of higher quality.

Investment and innovation is not just integral to construction, but to public services as a whole. This was a key priority identified by the National Infrastructure Commission in their review of public services. Simply put, a healthy and vibrant construction sector is vital to the overall success of the UK’s economy. The CLC hope this will lead to the industry receiving the funding it needs to invest in design and system innovations to future-proof UK construction.

Reducing Carbon Emissions

Construction and building work are one of the leading contributors to global and national carbon emissions, making it a significant contributor towards global warming. If the UK is to meet it’s 2050 net-zero target for carbon emissions, the construction industry will need to play its part.

The Roadmap highlights how this opportunity to restart the sector may help towards improving sustainability, resource efficiency, design and manufacturing processes to help towards the CLC’s target of 50% reduction in greenhouse gases. It will allow for a top-down reassessment of construction operations and will give companies the chance to assess how they can make their work more eco-friendly.

Investing in Skills

Even before the Coronavirus hit, the industry was already suffering from a skills shortage. Various schemes have been brought in over the past few years to help existing and future construction workers get the skills they need. 

The Roadmap to Recovery stresses the importance of increasing investment in skills and training. The CLC wants to use this opportunity increase opportunities for learners to access training such as vocational education, apprenticeships, and courses for improving health and safety in the workplace.

At Essential Site Skills, we are proud to offer a range of industry-leading skills training for construction. You can find a fill list of our courses using our online index. You can also have a look at some of our current funding options available via our website. If you would like to speak a member of our team about our services, why not call us on 0115 8970 529. You can also contact us by email at [email protected].

Download the Construction Roadmap to Recovery

To download or order the full version of the Roadmap, you can visit the CLC’s website and follow the links to get your copy. Here you find a more in-depth breakdown of the economic impact of the Coronavirus and further financial projections for the industry.

The Construction Industry’s Fight Against Covid-19

Construction workers have already proven they can rise to the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, with some truly inspiring stories from across the industry. Check out our blog on ‘How the Construction Industry is Fighting Back Against the Coronavirus’ to read some these stories and find out how you can get involved.

At ESS, we are also incredibly proud of how our business has reacted and adapted to meet the challenge on this pandemic head-on. Why not read the Q&A with our Training & Consultancy Director Darren O’Neill to find out more about how the business responded to the crisis.