Contractors have vital post-Brexit role

UK: The building engineering services sector has a vital role to play in the aftermath of the EU Referendum, according to the UK contractors’ group BESA.

Stating that projects carried out by its members are now even more crucial as the UK strives to stabilise the economy and move forward, Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) chief executive Paul McLaughlin said: “We must now focus on growth across the sector and help the government deliver on its promises for infrastructure developments, housing, and improved energy performance of buildings.”

According to BESA, uncertainty in the build up to the vote clearly had a detrimental effect on the market with companies unsure about investment decisions. A number of projects are said to have suffered delays as stakeholders awaited the outcome.

“The fallout from our decision to leave the EU now puts pressure on businesses across the country to get projects moving to help stimulate growth,” said Mr McLaughlin. “There are, clearly, going to be some major bumps in the road to negotiate and some contractors will be nervous about what lies ahead. However, there is no need for rushed decisions as it will take some time to negotiate our way out of EU treaties and reset our economy.”

Unchanged

BESA stated that most of the standards that directly affect the industry will remain unchanged as the key EU regulations were transposed into UK law long ago. There are, however, a number of provisional standards and other proposals currently under discussion in Brussels that must now be in doubt. 

“In the main, however, specific technical issues are largely unaffected; it is the economy that matters now and we should not forget that the UK government is committed to major infrastructure and house building programmes that are providing a welcome boost to our sector,” added Mr McLaughlin.

“For now, we can leave the politicians to focus on sorting out the parliamentary fallout, while we get back to the vital business of delivering increasing levels of sophistication in building engineering; improving energy efficiency and the uptake of renewables; and driving up levels of recruitment to plug our country’s engineering skills gap.”