Trade bodies take temperature with Brexit survey

Aug 1, 2016 |NBS |3 Minute Read

August 2016

A survey on the impact of Brexit on the building services engineering sector has been launched by the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA), the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and Scottish electrical trade body SELECT.

The survey covers the likely implications of Brexit for the sector, including the UK Government’s exit negotiations with Brussels. It is hoped that the results of the survey will help the bodies negotiate with the government on domestic and international policy and legislation.

According to Paul Reeve, Director of Business Services at the ECA:

“The Prime Minister has famously said that 'Brexit means Brexit’. She quickly added that the UK is going to 'make a success of it', and so it’s now up to our sector to help shape UK government policy and to identify the opportunities, and solutions to the challenges ahead.”

Rob Driscoll, Director of Commercial and Legal at BESA comments:

"The referendum vote has created business uncertainty and knocked confidence just when the economy was showing signs of gradual recovery after the financial crash. However, there is a lot of misinformation and scaremongering out there - the UK is in danger of talking itself into a recession.

"It is vital, therefore, to gather good quality, accurate market intelligence at a time like this so businesses can make investment and recruitment decisions based on what is actually happening. We need to build up a picture of what Brexit could really mean for our sector and which issues most concern our members so that we can provide useful advice and guidance."

Newell McGuiness, Managing Director of SELECT, adds:

“Now that the outcome of the EU referendum is known, the role for SELECT and our colleagues in ECA and BESA is clear, and that is to do whatever we can to support our members so that they can cope with any fallout.

“This survey will help us more clearly understand the concerns of businesses in the BSE sector so we can concentrate our representative activities in the areas of most importance to them.”

Reeve concludes: “This important survey will allow the BSE sector to identify its strong preferences or even red lines in the run up to eventual Brexit, and beyond. We will be actively representing members' interests, but our message to government is that we are also a key provider of the solutions it will be looking for."

The BSE sector 'Brexit' survey has just 12 questions and will usually take around five minutes to complete. It is open to all contractors in the BSE sector, and most notably ECA, BESA and SELECT members. The survey findings will be shared with member-firms and key stakeholders from across the industry, this autumn.

The Brexit survey, which runs until Tuesday 6 September, can be accessed here externallink.


Our latest news

Visqueen supports one of the first Gateway 2 approvals under the Building Safety Act

The Dyecoats development in Leeds marks a major milestone for the UK housing sector. The £100 million flagship Latimer Homes scheme being delivered by GRAHAM is one of the first high-rise new-build projects in the country to achieve Building Safety Act Gateway 2 approval, a crucial pre-construction sign-off confirming that the design meets all safety and regulatory requirements before work begins on site.

Building Safety ActSponsored

NBS and BDP join forces to improve generic carbon data in construction

Today, NBS (part of Hubexo), the platform for connected construction information, announces a long-term strategic partnership with BDP, a major global multidisciplinary practice of architects, designers, engineers and urbanists. The partnership recognises BDP's integral role in the development of NBS LCA, a new life-cycle carbon assessment platform providing professionals with high-quality, reliable and easy-to-use carbon data to ensure accurate tracking as construction projects evolve. BDP's primary contribution to NBS LCA has been the development of more than 1,300 pre-calculated generic assemblies, covering the most commonly used building fabric elements alongside key concrete and steel structural elements. These assemblies provide whole-element carbon data, giving designers consistent, UK-relevant carbon benchmarks from the earliest stages of project design. Users can easily and instantly apply carbon rates to a range of pre-configured common building elements, including walls, floors, and roofs. Developed by BDP and NBS, the assemblies remove the need for designers to manually build up material layers or calculate individual components at the concept stage. This saves significant time and effort, enabling proportionate and responsible carbon evaluation early in the design process, when decisions have the greatest impact on a project's overall carbon footprint. BDP also participated in collaborative workshops that directly informed the development of NBS LCA, helping to shape a tool that is practical, accessible and aligned with real-world UK construction workflows. Dr Lee Jones, Head of Sustainability at Hubexo, said: “BDP's contribution to NBS LCA has been invaluable. Their depth of project experience and technical knowledge has directly shaped the generic assemblies at the heart of the platform. These assemblies give designers a reliable, UK-relevant starting point for carbon assessment, without the burden of building everything from scratch. This is exactly the kind of collaboration that moves the industry forward, and we're proud to be working with BDP on a long-term basis.” Julia Yao, Associate, Sustainability Consultant at BDP, said: “Carbon assessment needs to be embedded in design from day one, not bolted on at the end. Working with NBS to develop its LCA product has been a genuine opportunity to put that principle into practice. The generic assemblies we developed draw on real project data and are designed to give designers meaningful, actionable carbon information at the concept stage. We're delighted to see them at the core of a platform that will be used across the industry.” With the UK Government outlining its commitment to responsible carbon reporting through its Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan, professionals need reliable, easy-to-use tools to assess and report embodied carbon. NBS LCA addresses this need by integrating carbon calculations with live design work, drawing on structured data from Circular Ecology's ICE Database and more than 12,500 verified, specification-ready construction products with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) from NBS Source and ECO Portal. Over the coming months, NBS and BDP will continue to develop their partnership, with a shared commitment to improving the quality and accessibility of carbon data for construction professionals across the UK. NBS LCA is available now, with flexible subscriptions designed for all professionals. For more information, visit the website here.

Product update

Bourne Amenity NBS case study: Finsbury Circus Gardens

Bourne Amenity recently supported the restoration of London’s Finsbury Circus Gardens by supplying specialist soils, bark and materials for the soft landscaping works, providing the right foundation for the new planting and lawn areas.

Product update