The Construction Industry Council is calling for evidence regarding the possibility of reaching the government’s 1.5m new homes target
The CIC housing target inquiry is exploring the question “How can we build 1.5 million quality homes in this Parliament?”
The call for evidence is open to industry experts, stakeholders, and the public.
The CIC housing target inquiry is interested in several aspects
The 1.5m new homes target has been put in place to tackle the UK’s housing crisis. This has resulted in mandatory housing targets for local authorities, and planning system reforms to increase volume and speed up the approvals of planning applications.
The CIC’s call for evidence will look at insights, strategies, and innovation from industry experts, stakeholders, and the public. In particular, the evidence will examine:
- Economic viability: How do we balance economic viability with high quality – what are the current barriers to that?
- Sustainable building practices: How can we ensure that new homes are environmentally friendly and energy-efficient?
- Affordable housing solutions: What strategies can be implemented to make housing more affordable for all income levels?
- Innovative construction techniques: How can modern construction methods and technologies accelerate the building process while maintaining quality?
- Policy and regulatory frameworks: What changes in policy and regulation are necessary to support the rapid construction of quality homes?
- Community and infrastructure development: How can we ensure that new housing developments are well-integrated with local communities and infrastructure?
- Flood risk management: How can we avoid building in areas of higher flood risk to minimise potential damage and ensure safety?
Interested parties can send submissions to: enquiries@cic.org.uk
The 1.5m homes plan will need more work
In July last year, the NHBC published statistics suggesting that, at the time, the likelihood of reaching the 1.5m homes target was not likely.
In the second quarter of 2024, just 29.281 new homes were registered in the UK, a drop of 23% from the same quarter in 2023.
In the latest S&P PMI, construction activity was shown to have contracted yet again, with residential and commercial construction staying in the negative (below 50.0) for the third month running, meaning the sectors are currently not growing.
Companies surveyed in the PMI stated that they have seen a rise in competition and a fall in new orders, along with worries regarding lower rates of workloads, higher interest rates, and concerns with economic outlook with aspects such as the US’ new global trade tariffs.
Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said at the time: “March data highlighted a challenging month for UK construction companies as sharply reduced order volumes continued to weigh on overall workloads.
“Commercial work also saw a headwind from delayed decision-making on major projects, largely due to worries about the impact of rising global economic uncertainty. The downturn in residential construction activity nonetheless eased since February, providing a source of encouragement despite ongoing reports of sluggish demand conditions.
“Construction companies remained cautious about their year ahead growth prospects, as fewer sales conversions and a third successive monthly reduction in total new work hit confidence levels. Overall business optimism slipped to its lowest since October 2023.
“A lack of new projects, alongside pressure on margins from rising payroll costs, led to hiring freezes and the non-replacement of departing staff in March. The net result was the fastest pace of job shedding across the construction sector for nearly four-and-a-half years.”
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