Construction Alliance attends meeting at Westminster on behalf of all North East contractors

Representatives from regional lobbying organisation Construction Alliance North East (CAN) visited Westminster last week to meet with Ian Mearns MP for Gateshead, Mary Glindon MP for North Tyneside, and Bill Esterson, Shadow Minister for Business and Industrial Strategy. In attendance were Stuart Miller, Director at CECA North East, Liberty Hibberd, CECA National, James M. Butcher, Director of Policy NFB and Ken Parkin, Chair of CAN and NCBF. 

The ongoing energy crisis has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, and this has badly impacted material prices, due to rising manufacturing and delivery costs. In some cases, costs have been reported to have inflated by 700%. There are also several other issues impacting regional contractors in the North East, and the board of CAN outlined the position regarding procurement, fair payment, and skills shortages & training all of which are impacting on local firms.

Ken Parkin, Chair at Construction Alliance North East, commented: “It has been communicated that the industry does not see an end to the current problem of material shortages and cost escalation. There is real concern among members of all the bodies present that the industry is at a crisis point.”

Additionally, Liberty Hibbert, Public Affairs Executive for CECA National, added: “The current Parliamentary rhetoric is devaluing vocational skills in society, by pushing high wage and high skill jobs over the essential vocational jobs, that ultimately enable improvements in infrastructure and aid the levelling up agenda”.

CAN sees Intelligent Procurement as one way to solve some of these issues with regional contractors at the heart of procurement strategies. 

CAN would encourage construction clients, particularly those operating in the public sector, to adopt the recommendations set out in the Governments own construction playbook. These include early engagement of contractors, bidding with a fair margin baked-in, reducing risk to contractors and ultimately ensuring prompt payment of supply chains. 

It is an extremely exciting time for the construction industry, the future of the industry is set to change for the better and CAN looks forward to hosting a planned visit to the North East by Bill Esterson MP in the near future. 

CAN’s key aim is to provide a level playing field for local companies when it comes to winning public sector contracts. With over 500 member companies employing over 100,000 people, the four organisations that make up CAN work collaboratively for the benefit of regional contractors. 

To find out more, please visit: https://www.constructionalliancenortheast.co.uk/.