The British Property Federation has sent a submission to the new industrial strategy green paper, Invest 2035, highlighting the importance that the property sector plays in the UK economy
The submission to Invest 2035 argues that growth can only be delivered if the property sector is properly recognised and accommodated.
The BPF highlights the property sector’s critical role in providing buildings for family homes, workplaces, and communities.
The BPF calls for an integrated approach in Invest 2035
The submission suggests a link between the industrial strategy and a multi-tenure housing strategy, further linking the delivery of infrastructure such as energy and climate-resilience measures.
This approach would stimulate investment in the property sector, linking planning reform with other major growth strategies, including housing and infrastructure.
The submission results from a consultation response on the modern industrial strategy green paper, which closed on 24 November. In it, the BPF offered the full support of the UK property sector.
They said that “the right buildings in the right locations with the right supporting infrastructure, including homes, are the foundation of economic activity, and growth cannot be delivered unless the industrial strategy reflects this.”
Furthermore, they underlined the fact that property contributes £110bn GVA to the UK economy every year, more than 5% of the total, and supports 2.5m jobs, underpinning a lot of economic activity.
The property sector supports a lot of other high-growth sectors
The BPF show that many high-growth sectors are heavily supported by the property sector, including life sciences, professional and financial services, and advanced manufacturing.
Despite being a world leader in RDI in life sciences, for example, the country is not fully capitalising on this position, due to a lack of new laboratories, “scale-up” facilities, and infrastructure.
Logistics is another avenue in which the BPF emphasises the importance of property, as developers and owners provide warehouse space for manufacturing, creative industries, and data centres that are crucial to the financial, professional, and business sectors.
As such, the BPF makes clear that they feel Invest 2035 will only be effective with an integrated approach, including industrial strategy housing delivery, devolution, taxation policy, and new infrastructure delivery for energy generation and connectivity, along with planning reforms removing barriers to development opportunities.
Melanie Leech, chief executive, British Property Federation, said: “The property sector underpins every part of our lives and businesses cannot grow and drive a strong economy unless they have fit-for-purpose modern facilities and the workers they rely on can find homes for their families.
There are billions of pounds potentially available to invest in UK property of all types – from state-of-the-art research facilities to high value manufacturing to new homes, and we call on the Government to work with us to unlock this investment to deliver Invest 2035 and thriving communities across the country.”
Invest 2035 intends to propel the UK forward
The new industrial strategy has identified three key strengths that provide an opportunity for the country to attract investment:
The Net Zero transition – According to 2017 forecasts, the UK’s low carbon economy market size could be worth $1.8trn by 2050, and the UK will be among the first to deploy CCUS technology at scale
Artificial Intelligence, digitalisation, and increased automation – The digital infrastructure, skilled workforce, and enabling regulatory framework in the UK encourages the development of AI. AI could boost productivity by 1.5% globally, and the UK’s digital sector is already thriving.
Changing patterns of demand and demographics – The number of middle class consumers is rising, and could nearly double to 3.5bn by 2050. UK exporters intend to capitalise on this through exporting high-value goods and services that the UK specialises in
The BPF highlights that property will be crucial to all of these, and should be a focus in industrial strategy moving forward.
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