Steel industry calls for British building boost

Business leaders within the British steel industry have launched a campaign for domestic firms to be favoured for contracts awarded under the government’s National Infrastructure Plan.

The Rebuilding Britain campaign received its launch on Thursday, February 7, and also calls for further work to be awarded to firms based across the Irish Sea.

At the campaign’s launch, the British Constructional Steelwork Association’s (BCSA) director general Sarah McCann Bartlett said:

“We need a fundamental shift in procurement guidelines to consider best value, not cost alone.

“Rebuilding Britain calls for immediate and practical action to enable UK-based companies to compete on an equal footing with international competitors.”

McCann Bartlett said the BCSA campaign was a natural progression from The UK Contractor Group’s Creating Britain’s Future campaign.

She also went on to say that, for the delivery and quality of the projects, investing in British and Irish firms made sense. As an example, she made mention of the high standards and stringent health and safety controls demanded from company directors, clients and consumers, and how home firms meet them.

Though headlined by the steel sector, those behind the campaign feel that if it is successful, the fortunes of many firms could be boosted. It will certainly be hoped this is the case by UK and Ireland commercial building contractors, industrial concrete flooring contractors and specifiers.

In the European Union, ‘best value’ can be determined by a number of factors. The BCSA wants the respective governments to extend their definition of the term, to include societal, environmental and economic benefits to Britain and Ireland.