A key element of the recently launched construction sector deal is the commitment to increase the UK’s export share of the £2.5tn global infrastructure market. The sector deal highlights that fast-growing markets in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia are likely to represent the best export opportunities – markets with rapidly growing cities that demand the innovative design and management solutions for which UK construction businesses are renowned. This export drive is essential – partly to offset the UK’s negative trade balance in construction materials – but more importantly to secure a bigger share for the wider UK construction sector. Construction contracting exports totalled £1.8bn in 2016 – barely 1% of total sector output.

Accelerating digital innovation in the UK should find ready markets in tech-savvy Asia – which would create ways of generating revenue that are not as exposed

South-east Asia is a particularly important market opportunity for UK companies. In reality, firms have been doing direct business for many years with developers from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines when they have invested in the UK. Ironically, London, Edinburgh and other UK cities have become export centres as South-East Asian investors have flocked here to take advantage of the stability of UK markets and the devaluation of sterling. 

As a result, many UK architecture, engineering and construction firms have a good understanding of how these businesses operate and deliver projects. Relationships built on programmes such as Battersea Power Station or jointly funded projects such as Embassy Gardens, both in Nine Elms, London, are certainly a starting point in building an export portfolio – an advantage that few other European contractors have, given the focus of South-east Asian investors on the UK.

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