Only 12% of respondents to Building’s survey think Keir Starmer’s party are doing a good job in supporting the built environment. Carl Brown digs into the reasons why
Consultants were completing Building’s Top 150 sentiment survey in June and July, around the anniversary of the 2024 general election.
It therefore seemed a perfect time to capture the industry’s opinion on the performance of the first Labour government in 14 years. After all, Keir Starmer has pledged to “get Britain building” again.
However as mentioned elsewhere none of the 159 consultants answering the survey rate the performance of the government in supporting the built environment as “excellent”, and just 12% would describe it as “good”. Nearly one in four respondents said Labour’s performance has been “poor”.
However, six in 10 answered “neutral” to the question, suggesting many are still on the fence or waiting to see if promised growth materialises.
>>See also: Top 150 Consultants 2025: Are we finally heading for growth or more stagflation?
>>See also: Top 150 Consultants 2025: The main table
The results suggest a great deal of disappointment at worst, or ambivalence at best, about the government.
But why?
We asked the consultants to explain their thoughts about the performance of the government in supporting the built environment and then grouped the responses into key themes.
Housing and planning – big announcements, but when will see action on the ground?
Keir Starmer’s government wasted no time in announcing a major overhaul of the planning system, including the return of mandatory local housing targets, measures to free green belt land for development and proposals to reduce the ability of committees of councillors to halt schemes. The government also in the spending review announced a £39bn, 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme – a much larger funding programme than many envisaged. But all this has yet to convince everyone that we will see more action on housebuilding.
Aecom: “The government should be commended for its leadership in attempting to reform a broken system, removing planning barriers via the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Having focused on removing planning hurdles and emboldening devolved authorities in its first 12 months in power, the additional capital expenditure on infrastructure in the spending review and the soon-to-be-published 10-year infrastructure strategy should drive investment and provide clarity.”
Jones Lang LaSalle: ”The government has demonstrated support for the built environment sector since its election. At the core, the transformative June 2025 spending review, which delivered a £39bn investment in affordable housing over the next decade: this unprecedented commitment provides the long-term certainty that developers, housing associations and lenders have long sought. In the commercial realm, Labour has maintained essential business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors through 2025/26, with plans for permanent reform thereafter, while its infrastructure investment strategy promises to create development opportunities.
Meinhardt (UK): “Since being elected, the current Labour government has not made significant progress in addressing critical bottlenecks in the built environment sector. In particular, the continued backlogs in the planning application process and delays in higher-risk gateway 2 approvals are slowing down project timelines, increasing costs and creating uncertainty in the delivery pipeline.”
Magnitude Quantity Surveyors: “The government’s performance has been poor for the construction industry, particularly around housing and planning. Despite ambitious targets, housing delivery has fallen short, and the planning system remains slow, under-resourced, and overly complex. Mixed messages on green belt reform and a lack of clarity around local development have created uncertainty.”
Concern about regulations
Building’s headlines in recent months have been dominated by reports of development delays caused by the need to get schemes approved by the Building Safety Regulator, while concerns around environmental regulations such as those on nutrient neutrality have not gone away. There is also uncertainty about planning regulation changes, such as green belt reform.
Stace: “There is still too much bureaucracy/regulation holding back much-needed development which would be a boost for the economy.”
Hilson Moran: “We are seeing the impact of the Building Safety Act regulations on projects in terms of delays, reviews and costs.”
Core Five: “The inability thus far to appreciate the unintended consequences of the Building Safety Act, not just in programme delays but in the impact on procurement strategy, is a significant concern in addition to their failure in respect of unblocking planning and affordable housing provision.”
Ridge and Partners: “Confusion over green belt reforms, nutrient neutrality and planning delivery persists.”
Civic: “Housing investment has been welcomed, but so many projects are still stalling due to uncertainty and viability issues.”
Skills crisis
Even if the government’s planning reforms and funding announcements over the past few months lead to a surge in work, it cannot be delivered unless there is the skilled labour to carry it out. Many respondents to our survey raised concerns about the lack of construction workers and planning, while some acknowledged the government’s attempts in this area.
Ridge: “Planning authorities remain under-resourced and overloaded and approvals are at a 13-year low.”
Alan Wood Partnership: “The industry is still grappling with labour shortages, and while training schemes have been announced, they have yet to address immediate workforce gaps.”
Gleeds: “Pledge of £600m to train up to 60,000 more skilled workers into the sector before 2029, quick action to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe site.”
Tax burden
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves’, decision in her first budget to increase national insurance contributions for employers has been said by many respondents to have hit the ability of firms to invest. Others mentioned the overall tax burden and the prospect of further tax rises in the autumn as mitigating against growth.
Ridge and Partners: “In reality, taxation has been the main impact of the Labour government over last 11 months. Its increases in national insurance and business-related costs are effectively a tax on employment, disproportionately hitting labour-intensive sectors like ours and raising overheads at a time when margins are already under pressure. Talk of wealth taxes and regulatory uncertainty has prompted some high-net-worth and institutional capital to retreat, particularly from residential.”
Currie & Brown: “The impact of increases in employer national insurance contributions has impacted both profits and reduced the take-home salary of staff.”
Exigere: “Commitment to some infrastructure projects and planning improvements have been positive but counteracted by the impact of national insurance increases and general lack of confidence in the ability of the government to manage its own finances.”
Purcell: “We’ve seen encouraging levels of investment in national infrastructure projects. However, the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions has come as a disappointment and challenge to many in the sector, particularly at a time when businesses are grappling with inflation, skills shortages and the rising costs of materials.”
Uncertainty and lack of clarity
Labour has positioned itself on the side of builders, but for many consultants, the strategy is still not clear.
Pell Frischmann: “It has taken a long time for them to provide clarity of vision and a strategy.”
Hollis: “Our clients, particularly in industrial, life sciences and office markets, still face fragmented guidance on sustainability, embodied carbon and building safety compliance.”
Ryder: “No clarity of direction, too much money being wasted on consultants rather than trusting the industry to deliver. Complete knee-jerk reaction to Grenfell – the regulator doesn’t appear ready or really knows what should happen.”
Webb Yates: “New housing regulations will help the industry, but there is no joined-up thinking across the sector at government level so it will be very difficult to achieve the targets. The planning process has yet to be reformed despite a lot of communication about it.”
BWB: “There has been a notable lack of clear policy direction and tangible support for the built environment sector since the election. Promised reforms on planning, infrastructure delivery and housing targets have been slow to materialise, creating uncertainty and slowing progress across both public and private sector projects.”
Net zero and climate change
Similarly, many are not convinced about the government’s plans for tackling climate change.
Sheppard Robson: “Unrealistic residential targets at a time when foreign funds are not investing in the UK due to lack of uncertainty. Slow action on climate change mitigation.”
David Miles: “The government has no understanding or expertise in the area, rather relying on political wording such as ‘we must reduce our carbon’, but has no idea how to do this, leading to complete chaos.”
BWB: “The sector needs bold, co-ordinated leadership – particularly around climate adaptation, skills investment and unlocking development pipelines – but so far, the response has been underwhelming.”
Need for action
For some, there is a disconnect between the government’s pro-building rhetoric and what is happening on the ground.
Mace: “The government has made the right noises; it is now about action.”
Alan Wood Partnership: “Despite ambitious promises, the Labour government’s performance over the past year has fallen short for the construction industry. Overall, there’s a growing sense of frustration over delayed action and policy inconsistency which is driving uncertainty and causing stagnation in investment and development.”
Is it simply too early to tell?
However, many consultants also stressed the need for patience, making the point it is too soon for a verdict on whether Labour is good for construction.
Pulse Consult: “We are waiting to see the impact on key policies around housing, education and planning.”
Kendall Kinscott: “It’s early days and the policies are still developing. The recent spending review suggests the core areas will receive a healthy investment, but it is being driven at the expense of the private sector and driving entrepreneurial ambition that is the engine room for growth and tax generation. They need to get a better balance and have faith in this concept that will ensure strong growth rather a neutral stance.”
BB7: “The Labour government has demonstrated a strong commitment to revitalising the built environment sector through ambitious targets and policy reforms. However, at this stage it is too early to tell how well they are performing. There are limitations including skills shortages, planning system inefficiencies, and declining construction activity. Continued focus on implementation and addressing these bottlenecks will be crucial to achieving the desired outcomes.”
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