How will builders be affected by the latest news from Holyrood?

What our politicians discuss in the Scottish Parliament won’t be on the radar of many local building companies. It’s FMB’s job to tune in and speak out here: to influence any matters which are likely to impact our members. With building standards, skills, training, procurement, planning and housing being some of the matters which Holyrood and not Westminster has power over.

What's coming up for builders in Scotland?

Of potential benefit to FMB members is the Community Wealth Building Scotland Bill. This was only introduced on 20 March: very early days. It is focused on economic development: to help ensure economic wealth is generated, circulated and retained in local communities. Key ambitions of the new bill are:

• Higher levels of spend with SMEs and microbusinesses
   
• Inclusive business models resulting in business growth
   
• Improved, resilient local and regional economies.

Now all FMB members are either micro (10 employees or less) small (11-49 employees) or medium (50-249) sized businesses. So the ambitions of the bill are relevant for our members. I will be keeping an eye on how the bill progresses through the Parliament. Now I’ve long argued for public sector procurement to be more friendly to small and micro businesses. Those members already delivering construction services for public sector clients, would stand to gain but I’d expect the final Bill to make it easier for more FMB members to bid for and win work from the public sector if that’s how they want to grow their business.

What’s going on at Hibs?

I am referring to the Heat in Buildings Bill of course! In March the Scottish Government effectively pulled this bill. Most of the bill is about improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes through building fabric improvements and clean heating. Whilst the bill was a key pillar of a wider strategy to decarbonise buildings and contribute towards Scotland’s net zero targets, it’s relevance for FMB members was in more work. As Scottish Government Ministers know, it’s local building contractors and installers that would repair our homes and install the insulation and clean heating systems to reduce their heat demand.

On 3 April, Acting minister for climate action Dr Alasdair Allan MSP confirmed the Scottish Government’s intention to bring forward a revised Bill for consideration by the Scottish Parliament later this year. Reaching net zero by 2045 is still on the table. For the FMB and our members though, it is the hesitancy and lack of clear policy here that is the frustration. The next Scottish Parliament elections are in May 2026: we don’t know if the bill will be passed before then. Right now, we have linked up with the CIOB to co-ordinate and amplify our lobbying on behalf of contractors and industry regarding Hibs.

Authors

Gordon Nelson

FMB Scotland Hub Director, Federation of Master Builders

Director, Federation of Master Builders Scotland

Gordon has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles. Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. Gordon is the Secretary of the Cross-Party Group on Construction in the Scottish Parliament, and he is a member of the Scottish Building Standards Futures Board. Gordon represents the FMB on Scotland’s Construction Industry Collective Voice: which is comprised of the leading construction trade and professional bodies. In spring 2023 Gordon was appointed as an industry co-chair of the Construction Leaderships Forum’s (CLF) Transformation Board.

Read lessmore