Brexit

Brexit and its political ramifications are a source of great debate, but our industry needs to be prepared for the short, medium, and long-term future, irrespective of the eventual conclusion to Brexit. We cannot wait for politicians to decide our collective future. We must grasp opportunities and drive our own…

In business, we need only four things from a government: clarity, certainty, continuity and most importantly, confidence. We’ve recently experienced a Tory leadership election where there was more blue on blue than a rugby scrum at a policeman’s ball. Then there was the proroguing of parliament, which had the net…

Parliament has been sent packing, the Brexit outcome remains a battleground and what will surely prove to be a deeply divisive general election is lurking around the corner. Major infrastructure projects remain in limbo, the future value of the pound is anyone’s guess, and nobody knows under what terms we…

Despite recent events in parliament, a no-deal exit from the EU remains a distinct possibility. It is a scenario that has implications for many UK businesses within our industry. Every company that makes, sells or uses construction products bearing the CE mark – a certification stamp indicating conformity with health,…

Things are moving so fast in UK government circles at the moment that it’s becoming increasingly impossible to guess what will happen next. While I was writing this piece, the number of MPs backing Boris Johnson’s plan to leave the EU with or without a deal by October 31 has…

The Times reported this weekend that a bailout fund is being developed by the government in order to prop up businesses in the event of a no-deal Brexit. It said that “big British employers” considered “most at risk” were in line for help if a no-deal Brexit tips “otherwise fundamentally…

August can be a relatively quiet time to walk into a new job, but it won’t be the case at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. The announcement today that former Shell executive Nick Smallwood will take over as the chief executive of the IPA on 1 August could be just…

It’s no industry secret that the Irish construction market is booming. Dublin has been taken over by the construction of data centres and the development of hotels and offices and development is on the up across the country. The likes of Mace and Sisk have been building bases for global…

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has uncovered a staggering amount of alleged cartel activity within the construction industry in recent months, leading to multiple directors being disqualified from working within the industry for years at a time. In the last six months alone, 15 companies including fit-out firms, concrete…

At the beginning of the year, all eyes were fixed on 29 March. Yet almost six months later, Brexit still dominates, with the deadline pushed back to 31 October and politicians still unable to come to a consensus on how Brexit should be managed. It is important to note, however,…