The CLF - a collaboration between Construction Scotland, industry partners, the Scottish government and other industry stakeholders 鈥� changed its emphasis last year when the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic became clear.
The Forum had been established in March 2019 to develop and implement an action plan of improvement initiatives aligned with Government policies and Construction Scotland鈥檚 Industry Strategy. In response to the pandemic, its energies were diverted initially to restarting the sector after the first shutdown and then to developing a wider recovery plan with over 80 specific actions.
That plan was approved in October last year and set out a pathway not only to recovery, but also to a longer-term transformation, which the Forum believed was required to build a stronger, fairer and greener economic future.
Peter Reekie, chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust and chair of the Executive Group of the CLF, said: 鈥淭he Forum committed to taking a long-term view of building a productive, profitable, low-carbon and socially responsible construction industry, but it was also crucially aware that immediate action was needed to alleviate the most severe effects of the pandemic.
鈥淚n response to this, the Recovery Plan built on immediate, short-term, medium-term and long-term aims, focused on five areas: pipeline & commercial; skills & workforce; transformation; supply chain resilience & capability; and industry data & insight.
鈥淎n update on progress of the delivery of the immediate and short-term goals has been published on the CLF website. It shows that twenty immediate and short-term actions have been completed. Progress has been made in a number of key areas such as support for apprentices, issue of new safe operating guidance, a digital upskilling strategy, a value of consultancy approach, construction quality improvement and developing a data strategy to better inform key decision making.
鈥淭his has not been without its challenges and there is still a long way to go, however a significant amount of activity is due to be completed this year, and particularly in the next quarter.鈥�
Kevin Stewart, the Scottish government鈥檚 minister for local government, housing and planning and chair of the Construction Leadership Forum, said: 鈥淭his Recovery Plan has set an ambitious agenda for the sector and I am pleased with the progress so far. There is still much to do to move us from recovery into the transformation which is vital for this sector. The plan recognises the central role of construction in meeting net-zero targets and its ability to create jobs right across Scotland.
鈥淎lthough the formation of the current Construction Leadership Forum arose from the worst of circumstances it is delivering the best of outcomes. The forum must continue driving forward this important work to build the fairer, more sustainable, innovative and diverse industry we all want to see.
鈥淐reating and delivering such an ambitious plan has only been possible due to the spirit of collaboration across the sector. The collective has endeavoured to understand the challenges not only brought about by Covid-19 but also those underpinning the sector鈥檚 longer-term resilience, and everyone involved has put in countless hours through a high level of commitment.鈥澛犅�
Emma Dickson, of the Construction Scotland Industry Leadership Group and co-chair of the skills and workforce sub-group said: 鈥淭he co-operation and support across industry and government has been crucial in driving forward the actions in this ambitious recovery plan. We are especially proud of work done to support redundant employees in accessing new opportunities in the sector. It demonstrates excellent collaboration across the sector and was a key action in the recovery plan.鈥�
Reekie pointed out that, while the immediate action results were satisfactory, the short-term results were more mixed. This reflected the fact that although much time and effort has been devoted to the task, there needed to be realism about what could be achieved while operating under the ongoing Covid restrictions, he said.
The Forum also recognises that the longer-term commitments are being progressed in a highly uncertain environment where many industry participants, at all levels, have suffered financial losses and are concerned about the short-term future.
However, the Forum also said that work being done as part of the recovery plan will underpin a Construction Accord designed to help create a responsible industry that offers quality jobs and fair work to a highly-skilled and diverse workforce and a quality product to its customers.
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