New initiative will culminate in report to the Building the Future Live conference in October.
Building is today launching a new campaign called Funding the Future to examine fresh ways of attracting and using finance to boost construction projects at a time of constrained public finances.
The initiative will examine options for public-private partnerships which can draw in private capital to pay for large infrastructure projects, new schools, prisons, hospitals and housing. It will also look at existing models for private and public funding and examine how these can be optimised to ensure funding leads to more shovels in the ground as Keir Starmer looks to construction to boost flagging growth.
Over the next few months we will share learning, consult with the industry and collect ideas from readers. This will culminate in a special report to be published at our Building the Future Live Conference in London on 2 October.
Over the past few months the government has desperately sought ways to boost growth, including writing to regulators for ideas on how to remove obstacles to activity.
The prime minister has staked his reputation on delivering hugely ambitious targets for building new homes and infrastructure in the next five years, but faces massively constrained public finances.
The Office for Budget Responsibility halved its growth forecast last month as the cash-strapped government cuts welfare spending to try and square the circle.
With little public money available, creativity and fresh thinking is needed to ensure we can create the projects we need – and to boost growth. The only way this government can deliver on its commitments to build on such a scale is to find creative ways to unlock private finance. There may also be ways of using public finance more effectively and creatively. Funding the Future comes ahead of the government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy due to be published in June which will set out its approach to private investment.
Meanwhile advisory group the British Infrastructure Taskforce is examing lessons from the previous version of PFI as part of a report out later this month.
>>See also: How do we fund the future?: How Building’s new initative will look at options for financing public projects
>>See also: Government’s infrastructure taskforce to publish private finance findings in coming weeks, says minister
The prize is huge. For every £1 spent on construction, close to £3 of value is generated in the wider economy. Research undertaken on behalf of the National Housing Federation indicates that the construction industry has an indirect and induced employment multiplier of 2.23.
For a government so keen to drive elusive growth, securing investment into the industry is a no-brainer, but how to achieve it?
We kick off Funding the Future today and tomorrow with two pieces by Joey Gardiner. The first – today – sets the scene for some of our activity over the next few months, while tomorrow we look at the legacy of New Labour’s use of the private finance initiative (PFI) and examine whether a form of this could make a comeback in 2025.
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