A major new survey on the impact of Brexit on the building services engineering (BSE) sector has been launched by the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA), the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and leading Scottish electrical trade body SELECT.
The survey aims to identify the key issues within the sector following the UK’s landmark decision to leave the European Union. The survey covers the likely implications of Brexit for the sector, including the UK Government’s exit negotiations with Brussels.
The results of the survey will inform the representational work of the ECA, BESA and SELECT as the Government develops its Brexit negotiating position and establishes new approaches to domestic and international policy and legislation.
According to Paul Reeve, Director of Business Services at the ECA: “The Prime Minister has famously said that 'Brexit means Brexit’. She quickly added that the UK is going to 'make a success of it', and so it’s now up to our sector to help shape UK government policy and to identify the opportunities, and solutions to the challenges ahead.”
Rob Driscoll, Director of Commercial and Legal at BESA comments: "The referendum vote has created business uncertainty and knocked confidence just when the economy was showing signs of gradual recovery after the financial crash. However, there is a lot of misinformation and scaremongering out there - the UK is in danger of talking itself into a recession.
"It is vital, therefore, to gather good quality, accurate market intelligence at a time like this so businesses can make investment and recruitment decisions based on what is actually happening. We need to build up a picture of what Brexit could really mean for our sector and which issues most concern our members so that we can provide useful advice and guidance."
Newell McGuiness, Managing Director of SELECT, adds: “Now that the outcome of the EU referendum is known, the role for SELECT and our colleagues in ECA and BESA is clear, and that is to do whatever we can to support our members so that they can cope with any fallout.
“This survey will help us more clearly understand the concerns of businesses in the BSE sector so we can concentrate our representative activities in the areas of most importance to them.”
Reeve concludes: “This important survey will allow the BSE sector to identify its strong preferences or even red lines in the run up to eventual Brexit, and beyond. We will be actively representing members' interests, but our message to government is that we are also a key provider of the solutions it will be looking for."
The BSE sector 'Brexit' survey has just 12 questions and will usually take around 5 minutes to complete. It is open to all contractors in the BSE sector, and most notably ECA, BESA and SELECT members. The survey findings will be shared with member-firms and key stakeholders from across the industry, this autumn.
The Brexit survey, which runs until Tuesday 6 September, can be accessed here.
