As the dust continues to settle on a tumultuous Budget, UK construction has collectively attempted to get its head around the ramifications for the sector. Here’s a cross-section of reactions from leading figures within the industry.
John Newcomb, CEO at BMF (Builders Merchants Federation)
Our concern is that this Budget represents the delivery of small incremental measures. We needed to see a jumpstart to get the sector moving.
The Budget has not done enough to bridge the gulf between the Government’s ambition to build 1.5m new homes by July 2029, and the state of today’s market. There’s a significant gap between what the Government has proposed and what is being achieved out on the ground.
We have stated that without Government intervention it was going to be difficult to move out of a stagnant market, so it’s disappointing to see no incentives to help first time buyers and stimulate the housing market.
The Government is adding headwinds, with issues such as the increases to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, as well as the impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Waste, having a knock-on effect on investment and growth.
And of major concern to our members and the wider economy is the Chancellor’s commitment to Inheritance Tax. A minor alteration has been made for spouses so that any unused £1m allowance for the 100% rate of Business Property Relief will be transferable between spouses and civil partners, including if the first death was before 6 April 2026.
That will not change the position we hear across the industry that the changes in inheritance taxation could limit the future of the sector, with many private and family businesses across our membership reporting back that the impact of Business Property Relief will damage enterprise.
The end result could be a scaling back of the operations at SME merchants, suppliers and even builders in light of the changes, and that will have a significant impact on the whole economy.
There were positive outcomes in some areas of the Budget. That includes moves to create developments around train stations and other transport hotspots, which will support the earlier announcement of at least three New Towns in Bedfordshire, Leeds and Enfield this Parliament.
The Chancellor’s announcement on Landfill Tax is also welcomed, as this is something the BMF, alongside other associations, petitioned for, with the Government now not proceeding with transitioning to a single rate of tax by 2030, and retaining the exemption for quarries with disposal permits.
The move to make training for under 25 apprenticeships completely free for SMEs is also a positive step. Co-investment payments that SMEs have had to pay now for apprentices under the age of 25 will be scrapped, and we support an extension of the temporary five pence Road Fuel Duty being cut for an extra five months, which offers a further fuel duty freeze.
However, looking at the situation overall, the difference between what the Government says it will do and the implementation and delivery is a major concern. We are looking more at the detail, but the feeling is that more could have been done to get Britain building.
Dr David Crosthwaite, Chief Economist at BCIS
Plus points include £900m additional capital for the Lower Thames Crossing scheme, free training for under-25 apprentices for SMEs, and steadfastness on Spending Review investments in infrastructure and housing.
Yet the Chancellor’s celebration of the government’s planning overhaul to ‘get Britain building’ seemed misplaced. Construction output and housebuilding data tell another story – one of slow demand and a shrinking workforce.
The Chancellor called private investment the lifeblood of economic growth. But as we found out first from the OBR’s leak, the threshold for employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) will freeze from 2028-29 and NICs will be charged on salary-sacrificed pension contributions.
Will this government ever learn from the unintended consequences of its policies?
Increasing the cost of doing business is likely to be inflationary.
Higher costs will inevitably be passed on, placing further upward pressure on tender prices and reducing firms’ ability to hire. This could pile on more friction at a time when construction activity is already fragile.
The above-inflation rise in the minimum wage for young people is also not as shiny as it sounds. It assumes that economic conditions are conducive for businesses to increase recruitment. That’s not currently the case, as evidenced by the high unemployment rate.
For construction, already faced with chronic labour gaps and rocky investor confidence, this Budget might create more issues than it solves.
Will Hunnam, Managing Director of Forza Doors
As an ambitious and growing UK manufacturer, we welcome the certainty delivered by today’s long-awaited Budget, unfortunately some of the detail will mean new pressures for businesses like ours.
At Forza Doors, we have always paid above both the National Minimum Wage and the Real Living Wage because attracting and retaining the best talent underpins the quality and service our customers rely on. However, a 4.1% minimum wage rise – above current inflation – adds further cost pressure at a time when many inputs are still increasing. This impacts margins and forces difficult decisions around what we absorb and what must be passed on.
The changes to salary-sacrifice pension contributions are a particular concern. Employer National Insurance being applied above £2,000 per employee introduces a new, hidden cost – around 15p for every £1 contributed – which could amount to more than £100,000 a year for us. That’s investment that could otherwise support new roles, product development or further growth in West Sussex.
On the flip side, the expansion of apprenticeships is a genuine positive and supports our long-term skills plan.
Ultimately, all businesses are navigating the same landscape. We’ll focus on what we can control: growing our market share, innovating and delivering outstanding service for our customers.
Justin Young, Chief Executive at RICS
The Government faces many challenges, and RICS recognises the difficult balancing act it must play. There are positive moves, such as new support for apprentices under the age of 25, which should hopefully expand the pipeline of new talent into the surveying profession. It is encouraging that the Government is prioritising necessary reforms to the business rates system, and we are committed to supporting this effort through our members’ expertise.
Whilst these changes are welcome, there are several measures which may weaken the housing market, such as raising tax on dividends, property, and savings income by 2%. Furthermore, it seems that commitments to sustainability are weakening. RICS is working with the Government to mitigate these effects and help it deliver its objectives.
If it is to deliver economic growth, the planning and development sector needs more support than was offered in today’s Budget.
Grant Leggett, Executive Director Boyer (part of LRG)
The Chancellor began speaking about planning the moment she rose to her feet, suggesting that perhaps the housebuilding sector was going to receive some much-needed fiscal, and other, support. But it turned out that planning and development was being cited as an example of the government’s success, rather than its future intent – something that many in the sector would disagree with.
The Budget arrived at a moment when development activity is at its weakest in over a decade. The market has been drifting, with buyers and sellers have been waiting see what the Chancellor announces, and planning applications and permission are at their lowest levels since 2012.
There were fewer than expected significant changes announced in today’s Budget from a property and planning point of view. They can be summarised as:
- A new national property tax through a new High Value Council Tax Surcharge
- National Insurance on rental income
- Some support for first time buyers through Lifetime ISA Reform
- Changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026
New towns barely got a mention. The brief reference was a vague commitment, that ‘the government will continue to consider the ways in which private finance can support the delivery of wider infrastructure ambitions including leveraging private finance to help deliver the next generation of new towns’ – not the funding commitment that was hoped, or further detail about how the funding and management would be structured.
Right now, delays, higher costs and mixed messages are just as big a block to delivering new homes than planning policy or local authority resourcing. If the Government wants more homes to be built, it has to give the industry stability and confidence. Stability in tax policy, combined with increased investment in employing more planners, is the foundation for growth. Without it, the 1.5m homes target moves further out of reach.
Affordable housing delivering is struggling. Across the country, development sites are stalling, and many housing associations are having to step back from buying S106 affordable homes because their costs have risen so much. The Making Social Rent Homes Viable report says that nearly £19bn a year is needed to build the number of social rent homes people actually need, which far exceeds current programmes.
The Budget did little more than re-announce the £39bn commitment for the 10‑year Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) which had already been announced several times previously. The government has also said that it will respond to the social rent convergence consultation in full in January 2026, before the launch of the SAHP.
With the fiscal gap widening, we did not expect large new funding commitments from Government. We may continue to see money being shifted around within the affordable housing programme, but realistically there wasn’t going to be a big pot of new funding.
In the context of today’s announcement, the pledge to deliver 1.5m homes this Parliament sadly feels more unrealistic than ever. That said, we have a revised NPPF to look forward to this side of Christmas as well as the Planning and Infrastructure Act coming into force imminently. So more potential change is to follow soon. Watch this space.
Katy Dowding, Skanska UK President & CEO
It was great to see the Chancellor lead with her commitment to infrastructure investment and delivery. We have worked closely with the Treasury because infrastructure is the backbone of Britain’s economic growth and so I welcome today’s continued commitment to invest in not only projects but skills.
Decisions made today carry both immediate and long-term consequences. Our sector is agile to change, we plan for it, and we await the detail that follows the Chancellor’s speech. However, these measures can only be judged a success if investment is truly unlocked, political commitments are upheld, and pipeline guarantees are delivered.
Now is the moment to turn words into action and lay the foundations for Britain’s future economic growth. We understand that industry needs to step up in terms of productivity, and that will be further enhanced by having pipeline certainty. Construction is the catalyst for this vision, we are ready to build, and so are our people.
My message to Rachel Reeves is that you don’t need to solve the problem of turning policy to delivery on your own. Industry and government can and must work together.
Stuart MacKenzie, McPhillips
Today’s announcements have not gone far enough to restore the stability we needed. The construction industry is impacted by almost every part of the economy so any measures which cause taxes to rise takes money out of the economy, puts pressure on businesses and will continue to stall growth.
Changes to salary sacrifice and minimum wage rises on top of the already hefty National Insurance hike will cause a mammoth administrative headache for businesses and will bring additional costs at a time when they want to be focused on investing in skills, sustainability and CSR initiatives.
We understand the tough decisions to protect the NHS and curb the government’s debts and we’re encouraged she made reference to speeding up the planning system but what we really need now is action. If we want to see growth in the economy and deliver on projects that will benefit and boost our communities then we need action that translates into a visible pipeline of work.
Sophie Horgan, Director of Horgan Homes
I’m afraid any confidence in this Budget and this chancellor was fatally undermined when Rachel Reeves performed her screeching U-turn over tax rises two weeks ago.
It was clear evidence that this is a Chancellor who puts political expediency ahead of economic integrity. As a result, today’s Budget is a sticking plaster of a statement.
I wanted to see clear action to prioritise the small housing sites and SME constructors who are the backbone of housebuilding in this country.
Kevin Stevens, President of E5 Group
Before today’s statement I asked if the government had the courage for change. We now know they don’t. Where was the help for first time buyers to allow them to get onto the property ladder? We have our own scheme running on our King’s Park Village development in Lincolnshire, but surely the government should be prioritising action too?
Instead, we got a mansion tax and a series of wealth taxes just because the Chancellor needed to throw some red meat to her backbench Labour MPs. The mansion tax will simply fuel an exodus of people out of this country who would otherwise be creating new jobs, employing local people and generating wealth.”
As a company committed to training the next generation and a very successful apprenticeship scheme this will enable us to boost skills and training in-house.
Gavin Mason, Operations Director at Pick Everard
For the construction industry, the Autumn Budget 2025 focused heavily on unlocking delivery by protecting the £120bn capital envelope and funding key projects like the Lower Thames Crossing. The decision to scrap the single-rate Landfill Tax overhaul is a vital win; by preventing a £15,000 per home cost hike, the government has not further challenged financial viability on brownfield sites. However, the silence on the Building Safety Act is notable. With the UK having fallen roughly 170,000 homes short of its 300,000-per-year target over the last two years alone, the lack of new resources to clear regulatory bottlenecks remains a critical missed opportunity.
Allan Wilen, Economics Director at Glenigan
We all knew the Chancellor needed to ensure the Government’s finances appear on a firm footing, and she made the most of the situation to do so. It is welcome that the Chancellor also reiterated the Government’s commitment to £120bn of capital investment previously set out in the Spending Review. But it’s vital the government rapidly delivers on these commitments and does not damage already fragile investor confidence, both for the UK construction sector’s survival and to ensure stronger UK productivity and economic growth. That, for me, has to be the primary objective.
The situation’s pretty serious, as much as it’s been downplayed this afternoon. Without increased investment, the UK will not secure the economic and productivity growth needed to deliver a rise in living standards and to improve the Government’s own finances over the longer term. There is a danger that the plethora of new taxes announced by the Chancellor may deter private sector investment and frustrate other government objectives.
The new property tax on higher value homes, whilst targeting the top end of the property market, could have a disproportionately disruptive impact on the wider housing market. This could deter new house construction, especially in parts of the UK such as London, where property prices are highest. This will throw a spanner in the works regarding the Government’s ambitious housing target, especially when there’s an increasing movement of people looking to live in the capital.
Drawing on what I’ve heard from those at the frontline of UK construction and real estate, Stamp Duty has been repeatedly raised as a distinct blocker to shifting the current stagnation within the property market. For a government looking at all opportunities to balance the books yet deliver a fluid and prosperous residential market, it must be time to listen to the built environment sector and look at some of the current measures that are stifling buying and selling movement in the property market and, in turn, deterring related investment.
Olivia Harris, Chief Executive at Dolphin Living
The introduction of a ‘Mansion Tax’ on homes above £2m offers an opportunity to support affordable housing delivery across London, but only if local authorities have the ability to retain the revenue to spend on affordable housing delivery. As such, the government urgently needs to reconsider its position of directing this additional revenue back to the Treasury and ensure this tax on expensive housing is redirected towards delivering more affordable housing in locations where high value housing is prevalent and affordability challenges are greatest.
Conor Leyden, Managing Director of the LK Group
The commitment to devolve £13bn of funding to regional areas is hugely welcomed, and it’s fantastic to see the Chancellor follow through on her earlier promises, including reinforcing the investment for infrastructure, transport and the Northern Growth Corridor. But this commitment must now be matched by practical planning reform and environmental clarity, otherwise shovel-ready projects risk staying on the shelf.
We know regeneration works — the proof is in places like Altrincham in Greater Manchester, where sustained local investment and collaboration between councils and private developers have completely transformed the town’s fortunes.
When decisions are made locally, regeneration succeeds. With the right mix of funding certainty, planning agility, and environmental guidance, regeneration can unlock jobs, homes, and long-term growth in every region. What we need now is consistency — not another cycle of stop-start policy and uncertainty.
Peter Stimson, Director of Mortgages at MPowered Mortgages
This has not been a good day for the makers of home improvement shows. For the first time ever, thousands of people have a perverse incentive to reduce the value of their homes and avoid trading up.
The ‘mansion tax’ is red meat to Labour’s Red Wall but an indiscriminate tax grab on swathes of London.
The average price paid for homes in the capital fell by 1.8% in the year to September. That slip could now turn into a slide as buyers shy away from homes in the grey zone below the £2m mark.
While we’re still awaiting the details of how the Government will accurately value the thousands of homes in the firing line, the measure raises the bizarre spectre of homeowners trying to reduce kerb appeal and shave off value.
The owners of homes worth £2m or more, who will see their Council Tax bills jump by £2500 a year, may not elicit widespread sympathy.
But tinkering with property taxes invariably creates distortions across the market, and the Chancellor’s plan looks set to generate ripples of unintended consequences not just for wealthy property owners but also those trying to move up the ladder.
All this disruption for a mere £400m increase in tax revenue seems like a very poor return. Rather than overhauling the creaking Stamp Duty or Council Tax systems entirely, the mansion tax feels like political posturing masquerading as policy.
Desiree Blamey, Managing Director for the Considerate Constructors Scheme
Construction is a barometer for economic health and we wanted stronger investment in this backbone of Britain’s economy. This sector contributes nearly 6% of GDP and supports over 2.3m jobs. Every pound spent here multiplies into housing, infrastructure and community growth.
The Autumn Budget committed £8.3bn for major infrastructure projects and £1.2bn for brownfield development, but underfunding risks slowing progress on safe, sustainable development, something CCS is committed to driving. Funding must also drive inclusive growth, creating opportunities for women and underrepresented groups to enter and thrive in construction.
Speeding up planning approvals is welcome but speed must never compromise quality. We need reforms that deliver responsible construction, prioritising safety, sustainability and community benefit. The Budget announced £39bn for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme and £500m for planning departments to accelerate approvals, alongside VAT relief confirmed for fire safety, cladding remediation, and energy performance upgrades on existing housing stock. Delays currently cost the economy billions annually. CCS will continue to champion higher standards and transparency as the industry evolves.
Green investment signals are positive but the Budget fell short of giving construction the tools to lead the net-zero transition. Buildings account for around 40% of UK carbon emissions so £4bn for clean energy, £900m for retrofit and heat pump rollout, and VAT cuts on energy-efficiency upgrades are welcome—but incentives for low-carbon building and circular economy practices must go further if we’re serious about climate goals. CCS stands ready to partner with the industry to embed these standards and shape a better future.
Skills shortages remain one of the biggest threats to industry resilience. The construction sector needs 250,000 additional workers by 2028 to meet demand. The £1.1bn allocation for apprenticeships and technical training is encouraging, but we hoped for even bolder measures to future-proof the workforce, alongside initiatives to attract more women and underrepresented groups into construction. Equally important is ensuring safe, inclusive workplaces once they join, because without this, innovation and safety standards will suffer.
Michael Shapiro, Commercial Property partner at law firm Spencer West LLP
The thresholds presented by the Chancellor mean there could be inequity. In some areas of the country, £2m would buy a nice country house befitting of the term “mansion”, but in central London, you might only expect a two-three-bedroom flat in a mansion block.
My view is that regulations would need to be adapted to reflect the higher value property market in London and other high-value areas of the country. This surcharge comes into effect in 2028, so we await further clarity as to whether the “mansion tax” is a one-size-fits-all approach
Richard Cook, Senior Economics Director at Pegasus Group
Against a backdrop of low growth and economic challenges, today’s Budget was a critical opportunity to turn the tide and set out a new agenda of positivity. While continued funding commitments to support regional transport infrastructure and local regeneration projects are welcome, the fact remains that the construction sector – and housebuilding in particular – are still not set up to succeed.
The Government’s ambitious housebuilding targets that it set last year are now looking increasingly unlikely, with data from last week showing a 6% decline in new additional dwellings. Add to this low productivity growth, a tough graduate jobs market, labour shortages in construction and planning, and now today’s headline tax rises which will naturally have ripple effects onto the housebuilding sector, it is hardly surprising that a sombre economic mood persists in the sector.
While there are positives to be taken from today’s devolution funding commitments, alongside recent US investment in technology infrastructure and the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, more needs to be done to attract external investment, or else construction and development will remain stagnant.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is almost set to receive Royal Assent, which should offer a boost to the planning process and open the door to increased investment. But at this stage, its actual impact is still purely hypothetical, and it has hardly been accompanied by sufficient supporting measures announced today.
Skills shortages still persist as the acute problem hampering the success of construction and development, and it seems unlikely that today’s measures will make a dent. In fact, the increase in minimum wage, far from bringing additional recruits into the sector, may well limit the hiring ability of contractors in the face of the wider milieu of financial pressures.
If the Government is to pick up the pace and meet its ambitious housing and development targets, additional action is urgently needed. While the steady stream of Budget leaks made clear that no resolution was immediately going to present itself, we need to start seeing results rather than just empty promises.
Stuart Law, CEO of Assetz Capital
The Budget documents reveal a striking imbalance. While the speech offered warm words about growth and delivery, the written detail confirms an overwhelming focus on large sites and large developers – despite the painfully slow build-out rates the sector is currently experiencing. Major developments are delivering roughly 0.4 homes per week per site, yet the government has doubled down on a strategy dominated by big, complex schemes with long lead‑times and huge infrastructure requirements.
The MOD land release programme (which was not mentioned in the Chancellor’s speech and appeared only in the supporting documents released afterwards), targeting up to 100,000 homes, will inevitably be delivered through master‑developers, large consortia or development corporations. Likewise, the £1.3bn devolved National Housing Delivery Fund (also absent from the speech and revealed only in the written Budget papers) is designed for large urban regeneration projects and strategic infrastructure‑heavy sites. None of this creates land access for SME builders, none of it requires plot subdivision, and none of it enables the smaller sites that SMEs specialise in bringing forward.
This is a profound missed opportunity. SME house builders could deliver far more homes across thousands of small and mid‑sized sites nationwide than a handful of giant developments ever will. Instead, the Budget offers nothing targeted at SMEs – no small‑site pipeline, no serviced plot requirements, no fast‑track planning routes for <30‑unit schemes, and no mechanisms to level the playing field.
At a time when the country needs rapid, distributed housing delivery, it is deeply disappointing that the government has centred its entire strategy on big schemes with slow outputs and long gestation periods. The absence of meaningful SME support undermines the goal of accelerating housing supply and ignores the proven ability of smaller builders to deliver quickly, flexibly and at scale across the nation.
Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor
The construction sector and property market has been almost downing tools in the run up to the Budget, and many are likely to be disappointed to see more tax rises and another hike in minimum wage.
We have seen the large housebuilders, property developers, agents and landlords being able to weather the storm of the past few years, with many seeing growth and record profits despite ongoing challenges. What will be difficult to avoid is the impact on the smaller businesses in their supply chain, and while the impact of the tax increases and minimum wage rises will take longer to filter through, there could be rises in restructuring, refinance or exits in the pipeline. For the larger players in the market their main concern must be skills shortages and supply chain disruption from businesses collapsing, now and in the future. Yes, there is an opportunity to sweep up the skilled workforce, assets and project pipeline from these distressed businesses, but any policy decisions that hinder construction output will have wider knock on effects for the property market.
The construction industry and property is central to UK growth and with significant targets and investment, there is opportunity if we can scratch below the surface. There must be long-term strategy to solve skills gaps, control material cost inflation, remove planning constraints and kickstart the property market so it works for the buyers, sellers and professionals within this vital industry.
Confidence across the sector has been knocked with so much speculation and unfortunately today’s announcements have not gone far enough to restore the stability we needed.
The construction industry is impacted by almost every part of the economy so any measures which cause taxes to rise takes money out of the economy, puts pressure on businesses and will continue to stall growth.
Changes to salary sacrifice and minimum wage rises on top of the already hefty National Insurance hike will cause a mammoth administrative headache for businesses and will bring additional costs at a time when they want to be focused on investing in skills, sustainability and CSR initiatives.
We understand the Chancellor has faced some tough decisions to protect the NHS and curb the Government’s debts and we’re encouraged she made reference to speeding up the planning system but what we really need now is action.
For too long we’ve heard plenty of promises on infrastructure investment and planning reforms. If we want to see growth in the economy and deliver on projects that will benefit and boost our communities then we need action that translates into a visible pipeline of work.
The only good news we can take from today is the Chancellor’s commitment to skills and new measures on apprenticeships. As a company committed to training the next generation and a very successful apprenticeship scheme this will enable us to boost skills and training in-house.
Alistair Geddes, Sector Director Rail at Costain
Upgrading the UK’s rail infrastructure helps to create a sustainable future that drives economic growth. Projects such as the Elizabeth Line have been transformational for communities in London and the surrounding areas. The industry will welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to UK rail infrastructure improvements across the UK, including the extension of the Docklands Light Railway, which will boost prosperity, support employment prospects and encourage investment in skills and education.
For any large or complex infrastructure project, collaboration is key to success. Enduring relationships can be formed through alliances to build momentum and ensure schemes are delivered safely, on time and on budget.
Carly Caton, partner in commercial health at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson
Leveraging private finance to build 250 neighbourhood health centres – earmarked as a central plank in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan to shift healthcare from hospitals to communities – is a wise move at a time of fiscal restraint.
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help to speed up the delivery of new social infrastructure projects while bringing down costs to the taxpayer and sharing risk between commercial parties and contracting authorities.
PPP programmes work well when there is a consistent pipeline of projects that allows the private sector partners to deliver economies of scale with some certainty. Bringing forward a significant number of community health centres will help to attract those private sector partners to the table.
However, there are important lessons to be learned from previous PPP programmes, including PFI and PF2. These had perceived drawbacks such as high transactional fees, long procurements, lack of flexibility and poor-value risk transfer, which will be important to address for the NHS to benefit.”
In the Budget document (4.2 Investing in the future), the government says it will consider how private finance can support the delivery of wider infrastructure ambitions, including new towns, by building an evidence base on PPP programmes used in neighbourhood health centres.
Phil Hooper, CEO of Close Brothers Property Finance
It’s extremely disappointing that the Government has missed an opportunity to support the housebuilding industry through a new equity loan scheme.
The Government is holding up the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme as its flagship policy to support first-time buyers, but the numbers tell a different story. Since launching four years ago, the Scheme has accounted for just 1% of all new mortgages.
The downturn in the new homes sales market is the single biggest issue for SME housebuilders at the minute and it’s preventing them from being able to scale up their output. We’ve seen volume housebuilders take matters into their own hands by launching their own versions of equity loan schemes. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option for SMEs who don’t have that kind of financial firepower. SMEs have always been at a competitive disadvantage to the PLCs and the gap between them is only going to grow wider at this rate. Without targeted intervention, we risk losing the very businesses that are building the high-quality homes that the country desperately needs.
Laura McCormick, Healthcare Strategy Lead at McAvoy
The Budget Statement sets out a promising direction for NHS building infrastructure, with promises from the Chancellor to ‘renew’ the NHS and reaffirms the ambitions from the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy.
The commitment to deliver 250 new Neighbourhood Health Centres with over 100 to be delivered by 2030, as discussed by the Chancellor, will reshape how primary and community care is accessed across the country. The budget has set out a new approach for delivering construction projects by combining public and private sector collaboration for both new builds and the repurposing of existing public buildings. Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), which includes modular building delivery, will be a critical enabler of this.
At McAvoy, we are already seeing this realised through our extensive work with NHS Trusts and private healthcare providers. We are working with clients to deliver future-proofed, flexible and sustainable facilities for both clinical and non-clinical uses.
The additional £300m in capital investment announced in the Budget Statement for NHS technology is also a positive step towards reducing waiting list pressures, an ambition offsite manufacturing supports. By standardising design, accelerating construction timelines, and delivering more predictable costs, through the use of offsite manufacturing, the NHS will be able to deploy facilities such as Neighbourhood Health Centres faster, cutting down wait times in the process.
The NHS faces a £15.9bn maintenance backlog, and capital will need to work harder than ever to deliver both essential repairs and the environmental sustainability improvements required to meet the NHS’s net zero obligations. While the government’s 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy had already committed at least £64bn over the next decade to maintain the health estate, confirmation of investment in today’s Budget Statement provides welcome reassurance for the sector. Furthermore, it will also help the sector move beyond reactive maintenance and instead look longer term. This change in approach to support healthcare estates meet evolving care needs will be transformative, and is something McAvoy is committed to supporting by delivering sustainable and efficient modular building solutions.