THE Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has called for retrofit and energy efficiency, the construction skills gap, and building quality and safety to be key priorities for the next Scottish Government.
The organisation has published its manifesto ahead of the upcoming Scottish Election, setting out the areas where it believes urgent, cross-portfolio action is needed to better support the nation’s construction and built environment sector.
CIOB calls for more joined-up thinking across future government departments to overcome issues caused by policy being developed in siloes, which it says have consequences for the built environment sector, such as ‘ineffective policies, slow delivery, and overinflated costs’.
Jocelyne Fleming, who leads CIOB’s policy and public affairs work in Scotland, said, “Scotland’s challenges in housing, climate change, and building safety are not the result of a lack of ambition. They are the result of systems that are not designed to deliver complex change at pace and scale.
“Our three key priorities, if addressed by the next government, will go a long way toward cutting consumer energy bills and reducing rates of fuel poverty, decarbonising the built environment to meet climate targets, getting more people into work, and, crucially, ensuring everyone has a warm, safe home. Our manifesto, based in a fundamental shift to a system-wide approach to policymaking, outlines clear, tangible actions the next Government can take to move Scotland’s built environment policy from ambition to delivery.”
CIOB’s manifesto priorities for the next Scottish Government are:
Priority 1 – Retrofit and energy efficiency
- Establish a Ministerial Oversight Group on Retrofit
- Develop a National Retrofit Delivery and Resource Plan
Priority 2 – Skills in the construction sector
Develop a Construction Skills Action Plan which:
- takes a long-term, demand-led view of skills needs across the built environment
- aligns education policy, funding, and curriculum provision with delivery requirements
- addresses barriers to apprenticeships for both employers and learners
- supports upskilling of the existing workforce, including green and retrofit skills
Priority 3 – Building quality and safety
- Establish clear frameworks for building safety and maintenance
- Explore a demolition levy to fund urgent safety and maintenance works and incentivise repair, maintenance and improvement works, in addition to addressing VAT-related cost imbalances
