It outlines issues the Scottish Construction Forum (SCF) believes are fundamental to building a successful industry for the future.

SLF Chairman, Graeme Millar said:

 “This is a significant moment within the construction industry. Never before have we acted with a single voice and agreed a list of issues we think should be being addressed by government.”

He continued:

“We believe the action points that we are asking our politicians to sign up for will make a real difference to the health and prospects of the construction industry in Scotland.”

“For too long the construction industry’s interests at a political level have been underrepresented and we believe getting buy in from parties across the political spectrum will go some way to addressing this.”

The SCF has called for a cut in the amount of red tape tying up public sector contract awards and the need for appropriate training for new recruits. In addition the SCF want to see better health and safety records as well as more environmentally friendly working practices in the industry.

The manifesto is built around six key areas:
Building a more professional reputation for the industry; Simplifying the way public sector contracts are awarded; Improving health and safety; Making training more relevant; and Improving the industry’s green credentials.

Millar said:

“These are issues that affect all sectors of the industry. Our record in health and safety is still worse than the UK average, there is still too much red tape tying up the award of government contracts and appropriate training for new recruits into the industry is still not what it should be.”

The construction business in the UK is responsible for nearly a third of all industry-related pollution incidents. Construction and demolition waste alone represent 19% of total UK waste.

 Millar added:

“There is a big job to be done to ensure we are making the best use of resources and this manifesto signs up the whole industry to looking at more environmentally friendly ways of working.”

The Scottish construction industry contributes more than £12 billion to the economy every year.Latest statistics show that 200,000 people work in construction meaning