Dan Preston, senior associate, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain
It’s tight, but my vote would go to the Conservatives. Irrespective of your view on the necessity and scale of spending cuts, the government has championed some very positive initiatives including project bank accounts, BIM and integrated project insurance. There appears to be a genuine commitment by the Tories to invest in major infrastructure projects such as HS2, although there needs to be more transparency on public sector buying needs and future opportunities. Key to how I actually vote in 2015 is whether the Conservatives make a real drive to grow the economy through construction.
Trevor Drury, director, Rider Levett Bucknall
I would vote Conservative. Their austerity measures, though severe, are at least an attempt to get the economy back into shape. Labour got us into this financial mess in the first place and they would just end up throwing money away again, they really don’t appear to have any viable alternative. However, rather than give money to the banks to get things moving, the Conservatives should invest more in housing and social housing to kick-start the economy and take advantage of the fact that it is cheaper to build now than in boom times. I support moves to relax planning permission to allow domestic extensions and the conversion of empty offices to housing, the latter could breathe life into redundant office space.
The Conservatives’ decision to support BIM and make it mandatory on large public projects in a few years will greatly improve collaborative working and potentially reduce disputes as long as the potential legal pitfalls are ironed out in time, and training issues are addressed.
Chris Kane, director, Greendale Construction
I would vote Conservative because they back entrepreneurs, and it is entrepreneurial businesses that will help us get out of the economic crisis. Banks are lending to some builders but the terms are totally different and with unattractive rates, so people are starting to look at how to get money from other sources. Deals will be done with entrepreneurs with access to funds that don’t come from banks, such as venture capitalists or overseas investors.
Entrepreneurs also drive innovation in the industry and by their very nature aim to go where no one has gone before, they have played their part in the development of off-site manufacture, different methods of procurement and carbon reduction, for example.
Vance Babbage, MD, B&M Babbage
I wouldn’t vote for anyone as none of the political parties acknowledge the importance of small contractors, who feel they have been abandoned and get no support. Parties in power get behind capital projects like the Channel Tunnel, HS2 and Crossrail, and talk directly to large firms, but smaller contractors don’t get a look in on these schemes.
It’s the same at a regional level, with local authority framework agreements only accepting larger firms. Effectively it leaves the small contractor reliant on the general public to generate work, and in a depressed market that avenue is also cut off, so they feel even more disadvantaged by the system.
Governments seem to have the view that if they put fuel in the tank the engine will run, but the reality is the construction industry has many tanks that need fuel. Red, blue, yellow or green, the small contractor doesn’t care or see how a change in government will do them any good, it’s endemic.
