Building’s Budget Scorecard: how industry leaders rated Healey’s announcements - and what is still missing

After weeks of build-up, John Healey delivered the first Budget of Andy Burnham’s premiership on 28 October.

Much of the national media’s initial coverage focused on cash payments to help people with their energy bills, as part of the chancellor’s plan to give “breathing space” to households amid fears we are entering a new phase of the cost of living crisis.

For those working in construction the interest is on wider measures in the Budget, and although thinktanks such as the Resolution Foundation described them as “scattergun” industry leaders were looking for signs they could help businesses escape the doldrums of recent years.

There was no shortage of announcements that, on the face of it, could do just that, including freezing housebuilding regulations and removing biodiversity net gain (BNG) rules on smaller brownfield sites along with plans to devolve funding, extra grant for social housing, a roadmap for fiscal devolution, a housing equity loan scheme and a new data centre covenant.

The question is whether these measures add up to generating the conditions for growth and increased construction activity. Did the industry get what it had been hoping for and what it needs?

To gauge this Building Design’s sister publication Building asked experts from across the built environment to assess the government’s performance against their key asks before the Budget. We asked them to score Healey’s package of measures out of 10 and to assess the impact across nine different areas.

A total of 29 different respondents took part in our Budget Scorecard exercise.

Very few respondents were wholly satisfied that their top asks had been met, just two organisations answered “yes” to that question. But more than half (15) say their asks had been partly met, while 11 answered “no”.

The overall average score out of 10 for the Budget was just under 6 (5.9).

However within that overall view, satisfaction varied by sector or theme (see chart below). We asked the respondents to give a mark on scale from zero to three against nine themes, where zero means the Budget has made things worse and three means pledges are fully delivered (specific, funded and timetabled).

The survey shows the highest satisfaction was with the Budget’s key housing announcements. Its home ownership announcements, including the Your First Home equity loan scheme, received the highest average score among our respondents at 2.67 out of 3. This was followed by a score of 2.29 for affordable and social housing policies and 2.06 for energy, fuel and growth policies.

The lowest score was for retrofit, which averaged 1.12, while infrastructure and capital pipeline also received a comparatively low score of 1.76.

The thinking behind the scores

Here are some of the respondent’s thoughts on the Budget announcements in the various topics, starting with the lowest-scored areas.

Infrastructure and capital pipeline (Average score: 1.76 out of 3)

Infrastructure and capital pipeline was the topic, along with employment cost and skills, that was scored by the most respondents (19) indicating its importance to the industry. Certainty around funding priorities and timescales was mentioned by several respondents.

Hughie Clarke, director at consultancy Edge, says: ”The Budget contains welcome commitments on planning reform, housing delivery and regional growth, but the industry still needs greater certainty that projects can move through the system more quickly and be delivered efficiently.”

John Wilkinson, chief operating officer at BAM UK and Ireland, says: ”The real measure of this Budget will be what gets built, not just what gets announced. Investment must translate into projects that create jobs, strengthen communities and deliver lasting economic value.”

Stuart Syddell, partner at Stace, says: ”The chancellor has given the sector some genuine reasons for optimism, but demand is being stimulated while costs continue to rise. The government must now focus on viability and delivery if it wants investment to translate into new homes and infrastructure.”

We’re now in a holding pattern awaiting decisions in the Spending Review – construction needs much greater certainty on funding, pipeline and delivery to be able to commit and invest

Stephanie Marshall, Turner & Townsend

Stephanie Marshall, managing director, UK at Turner & Townsend, says: ”The Budget included some welcome interventions, but we’re now in a holding pattern awaiting decisions in the Spending Review – construction needs much greater certainty on funding, pipeline and delivery to be able to commit and invest.”

Ben Goodwin, director of policy and public affairs at CECA, says: ”There was a commitment in the Budget to publish a new Infrastructure Pipeline and to speed up infrastructure planning, but the practical utility of the former will not be clear until we’ve seen it and the proof will also be in the pudding with the latter.”

Andrew Reynolds, chief executive, UK and Europe at Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), says: ”The Chancellor’s confirmation of the Good Growth Fund, energy market reforms, the Data Centre Covenant and increased defence spending signals a clear commitment to strengthening the UK’s long-term infrastructure pipeline. Collectively, these measures have the potential to boost investor confidence, unlock new opportunities across the built environment and create the conditions for sustainable economic growth.”

Employment costs and skills (Average score: 1.84 out of 3)

The Budget including a rise to the national living wage and national minimum wage of 3.9%, which will represent further costs for business. 

Gaauri Lamb, chief executive at FHP Group, says: “[This was] a Budget of teasers rather than tools. It offers the illusion of support, yet the qualifying hurdles keep real relief out of reach for the SMEs who employ most of Britain’s workforce.”

Healey said Alan Milburn’s report into why so many 18 to 24 year olds are not in education, employment or training will be published next month, after which we may expect some more concrete policies on skills. But he did say in his Budget that “large government construction and infrastructure projects” will require at least 3% of the workforce on those jobs to be apprentices. The Budget also said the government is providing £100m of funding across 2027-28 and 2028-29 to expand Mayoral Apprenticeship Brokerage Pilots from seven to 14 Mayoral Strategic Authorities across England.

We’re particularly pleased to see additional funding for Leeds College of Building

John Wilkinson, BAM UK & Ireland

BAM UK & Ireland’s Wilkinson says: “Investment in construction skills is essential to delivering the UK’s infrastructure ambitions, and we’re particularly pleased to see additional funding for Leeds College of Building, our award-winning apprenticeship training partner of more than a decade, with whom we’ve trained 653 apprentices.”

McGee adds: ”To sustain momentum, further action on skills, employment costs and development viability will be needed to unlock the sector’s full potential.”

Energy, fuel and materials (Average score: 2.06 out of 3)

When it comes to materials, Martin Casey, senior director of cement and lime at the Mineral Products Association was disappointed by the lack of measures to help that the products and manufacturing part of the construction industry.

He says: ”This wasn’t the growth engine the construction supply chain needs, and the chancellor could have done more to give materials makers confidence in the pipeline and tackle competitiveness issues like high energy costs.”

Duymaz of Skanska UK, says: ”There weren’t many extra taxes on business but no support for rising energy costs which has a major impact on our sector.”

Félicie Krikler, director and head of residential at architect practice Barr Gazetas, detected that Healey considers energy a priority. She says: “The structure of the speech itself was interesting, beginning and ending with the two issues that often matter most to the built environment: energy for starters and housing for dessert, introduced with ‘home is at the heart of our lives’”.

Home ownership and Your First Home (Average score: 2.67 out of 3)

The high average score for home ownership suggests industry leaders were relatively impressed by the Budget’s measures to get people on the housing ladder, including the Your First Home equity loan scheme for first-time buyers. Some extra detail, on the scheme’s fees, timeline and indication of maximum property purchase price caps was released alongside the Budget.

Pocket Living’s Rickard says: ”We’re pleased the government has listened and made Your First Home tiered and proportionate for SMEs.”

However, the scheme is certainly not being seen as a panacea to the UK’s ailing housebuilding market.

Sally Lewis, principal at Broadway Malyan, says: ”The Budget offers some help, but it won’t close the viability gap that’s stalling housing development in London. The Your First Home measures are unlikely to unlock city flats built for sale, given weak buyer demand for leasehold properties.”

McGee of Sisk says: ”The Budget takes positive steps to improve access to home ownership through the Your First Home scheme and additional investment in Affordable Housing but the scale of the challenge means significant more supports are required.”