Construction Confederation = representative body for medium-sized and large contractors

  • Construction Industry Council = representative body for construction professionals
  • Construction Products Association = representative body for construction product manufacturers
  • National Specialist Contractors Council = representative body for specialist contractors
  • Specialist Engineering Contractors Group = representative body for specialist engineering contractors
  • CITB-ConstructionSkills doesn't represent M&E, logistics, quarrying or manufacturing.
Who speaks for the totality of our industry? Nobody does. Where are the unions, the small guys and the clients in all of the above?

Constructing Excellence was the closest - but by becoming a membership organisation it will inevitably and necessarily represent its members' interests first.

In its broad definition, construction employs one in 10 of the labour force and generates about 10% of GDP; no other sector can work without us and we keep the nation safe, warm and dry. We may not generate wealth, but we enable everyone else to.

Perhaps one of the issues the Strategic Forum should address is how to create a unified voice for our industry. That in turn can help develop sustainable construction and sustainable communities; encourage procurement policies that promote safer, integrated working; allow the whole supply chain to earn more while charging less; and build the reputation of the industry as an attractive employment option.

Alan Mossman, Lean Construction Institute UK, Stroud

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