Government to invest £22 billion in construction projects
The government will invest £22 billion in government construction projects over the next 3 years.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, speaking at the Construction Procurement Conference, has announced £22 billion of investment in government construction projects over the next 3 years, confounding expectations that construction funding would be slashed.
The figures will be confirmed later in the autumn, along with further details on exactly where the money will be invested.
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said:
The Government Construction Strategy is reducing costs by up to 20% by reforming the way we procure construction projects across all sectors. However, we are still investing billions of pounds annually; with the same money we will procure more schools, hospitals, courts and prisons. Despite an incredibly difficult economic climate we are investing in and prioritizing our construction industry.
The government and the construction industry have a shared obligation to cut waste and find new and better ways of doing business. This is especially important when we are talking about creating first class, modern, fully functioning public service delivery buildings like hospitals and schools.
Government will help the construction industry better plan and prepare for projects by publishing a full pipeline of projects from the autumn. This has never been done previously, but is part of a new drive by the Cabinet Office to run government in a more transparent and businesslike manner.
The minister also revealed further details of the new Government Construction Board chaired by Paul Morrell under which:
- the Efficiency and Reform Group Steering Committee will be chaired by Andrew Wolstenholme, who will work with task groups chaired by Nick Pollard, Tim Eaton, Deborah Rowland, Mark Bew and Bill Yardley.
- the IUK (Infrastructure UK) Steering Committee will be chaired by Peter Hansford, working with task groups chaired by Simon Kirby, Professor Brian Collins and Steve Fox.