The Structural Timber Association (STA) has welcomed the Chancellor’s budget statement on housebuilding, acknowledging it as a key moment for continuing the momentum in getting Britain building again.
The Government has a target of 1.5 million homes in the next five years – a target which has been both praised for its ambition but also labelled unrealistic by some commentators due to the construction industry skills shortage and problems in the planning system.
In the latest budget statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an injection of £2bn for affordable housing with plans to fund 18,000 social homes.
“This is a significant investment and sends a clear signal of the commitment to addressing the challenges of the national housing shortage,” commented Andrew Orriss, CEO at STA.
“What we need to be mindful of is the delivery of this housebuilding and the scale needed. This is where offsite manufacture and low carbon structural timber has an essential role to play in helping the Government deliver its target of 1.5 million homes in the next five years. Indeed, there is existing capacity in the established structural timber manufacturing industry which must be utilised,” comments Andrew Orriss, CEO at STA.
The budget statement also revealed plans for £600m worth of investment to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers, as well as ten new technical excellence colleges across every region of the country.
Mr Orriss said the announcements follow a positive start to the year for structural timber with February’s ministerial approval of DEFRA’s Timber in Construction Roadmap (TiC), highlighting a strategic commitment to leverage timber as a key material in our built environment. Additionally, the Government’s recently introduced Plan for Change, recognises the pivotal role of sustainable construction in driving economic growth and addressing climate challenges.
“There can be no doubt that increasing the use of structural timber and offsite manufacturing is one of the most effective ways of ensuring the rapid and high-quality delivery of these vitally needed homes, while also meeting urgent decarbonisation obligation,” he said.
