The Building
Cost Information Service (BCIS) is asking the government to address the many
urgent issues in the repairs and maintenance sector (R&M) as we head
towards an election.
BCIS is
forecasting R&M output will fall 7% in 2024 before recovering in 2025 and
beyond, but warned the economic backdrop remained uncertain and that recent
inflation had cut into existing maintenance budgets in all sectors,
particularly in the public sector.
Dr David
Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: “We argue that this fall in the
repairs and maintenance sector can’t be allowed to happen, as there are many
urgent issues that need addressing.
“R&M is
integral to improving the quality of our buildings and creating environments
that people can live, work and flourish in.
“Therefore, in
this election year, we are calling for all the main parties to prioritise
R&M.
“We urge the
current government to fulfil its promises in the areas where it has allocated
funding, as well as investing more in green collar skills to ensure we have an
adequately skilled workforce to achieve these aims.
“We also ask
any subsequent government to follow through on the current government’s
commitments.”
There were few
sectors that escaped unscathed in 2023, from the negative impact of high
borrowing and low consumer demand.
Housing was the
most affected, as inflationary pressures and persistently high mortgage rates
slowed down activity.
However,
R&M was one sector that performed better than expected and drove growth –
with growth of over 6% according to the latest BCIS forecast.
BCIS has
outlined the key areas political parties should prioritise in their manifestos
and allocate funding accordingly.
Ensuring social
housing addresses both health and safety and energy efficiency concerns quickly
and in equal measure, was top of the list.
However, BCIS
cautioned these competing demands could potentially constrain the proportion of
funds that councils are able to allocate to day-to-day repair and
maintenance.
It also called
for the government to prioritise measures which would make existing homes more
environmentally friendly, such as the recent announcement that the government
has granted £16 million to fund energy saving measures and sustainability
initiatives under the Green Home Finance Accelerator programme.
Recent
proposals to speed up the planning process from the government have also
highlighted the lack of skills across planning authorities in energy efficient
retrofitting, with just 16% of local authority staff feeling ‘very confident’
in this area, according to a recent survey from Historic England. An
appropriately skilled and trained workforce is required to future proof our
buildings.
The RAAC
concrete crisis will have a cost impact across the public sector, including
hospitals and schools. The government has also announced it intends to set out
plans and measures to decarbonise the UK’s entire education estate.
The DfE’s
ever-growing to-do list coupled with the urgent need to address pressing
remediation works highlight just how essential it is to allocate funds to
non-residential and public R&M this year.
Businesses that
wish to encourage their workforce back to the office will increasingly need to
consider how they can improve the quality of the working environment.
As minimum
energy efficiency standards (MEES) regulations are tightened, pressure will
also mount to improve the ratings of Energy Performance Certifications (EPC)
given to buildings – a move that will meet both government requirements but
also the expectations of customers and employees who increasingly place a high
value on green credentials.
