investors’ appetite for bankrolling residential projects.


And while the industry is supposed to be


reinventing itself following the Grenfell tragedy, the collapse of ISG just two weeks after the publication of the report illustrated that industry reform remains some way off , with thousands of small supply chain businesses left trying to pick up the pieces once again. On the plus side, our report shows that many


fi rms are capable of reinventing themselves to survive and thrive. For example, when ISG collapsed, a £130 million three-school campus project in Cardiff was left with just the groundworks complete and a whole local supply chain in turmoil. Local fi rm CMB Engineering was leading the m&e team and itself faced a huge loss. However, as founder and managing director Steve


Borley told the report their solution was radical. It approached the council and off ered to take on the role of principal contractor and get the job fi nished. And, as a result, just seven weeks after ISG went under, the whole team were back on site and the Fairwater campus project remains on schedule and budget. Construction market research fi rm Glenigan also estimates there is already up to £129bn worth of new projects approved and waiting to break ground. However, the global fi nancial picture and the risky image of construction has, naturally, created


hesitancy among investors, and while there is clearly demand, there is also delay. Paul Aulton of NG Bailey said that the number of pending decisions almost doubled last year. “Even though we are often the preferred bidder we still have to wait – and in the meantime you have to manage resources carefully.” As well as the particular problems with planning


approvals in London, the issues aff ecting higher risk buildings (HRBs) hit the headlines with some projects held up for over 40 weeks at huge expense to developers. Teething problems and lack of resource at the Building Safety Regulator have created an ongoing problem that will not be solved quickly.


Most of the projects held up at planning ‘Gateway


Two’ are refurbishment applications refl ecting the enormous backlog of maintenance work required to bring HRBs up to standard. This seems to have caught the regulator by surprise and needs a rapid solution to get this critical sector moving again. However, at a time of when investors might be looking for more certain outcomes the ‘recession proof’ facilities market off ers hope and, as the fast- growing Irish contractor King & Moff att typifi es, the UK is now regarded by many overseas fi rms as a stable market thanks to the growth in its high-tech industries. “We have a very strong pipeline of work in the UK,”


says Brian McKiernan. “The UK is stable and growing – there are good prospects there for us.” Demand However, keeping up with demand remains a


challenge – especially as the work becomes more technical. This requires cracking the industry’s long- term problems with recruitment and training. “The lack of capacity is a challenge right across the sector,” says Dalkia UK’s Paul Eagle. “There is also additional pressure created by the whole new layer of competence requirements – organisational and individual – because of the building safety regime.” There is also a major shortage of specifi c, targeted


training in specialist building skills due to historic low demand. As a result, BESA has launched its Skills Legacy programme to tackle one of the biggest hurdles faced by the further education (FE) sector – the lack of trainers and assessors from our industry. It plans to recruit 100 experienced engineers


motivated to ‘give something back’ by qualifying as trainers, assessors and building safety auditors. The Manly Trust is fully funding the fi rst 50 to give the scheme a welcome early boost. The BESA Top 30 Contractors’ report can be


downloaded for free here. www.theBESA.com


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