CPA and CIOB launch Construction Growth Coalition to call for government action on costs and skills

The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) has led the formation of the Construction Growth Coalition, a membership organisation with nine founding members, launched at the CPA Gala Dinner in Liverpool on 5 November to call for government action on costs, skills and regulation.

The coalition is co-chaired by Steve Mulholland, chief executive of the CPA, and Dr Victoria Hills, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). The CPA said the group represents nearly 45,000 members and will campaign on taxes and fuel, skills funding, planning, building safety, decarbonisation and mental health.

Mulholland said the group's members were reporting pressure from the Employment Rights Act, higher National Insurance contributions and growing tax liabilities. He also said the patchwork of net zero and decarbonisation policies across the country meant companies could not invest with confidence in equipment that could be used nationwide.

"You cannot build 1.5 million homes or rebuild the country's infrastructure while making it harder and more expensive for the people doing the building to train and employ," Mulholland said.

Who is involved

The CIOB described the coalition as a new membership organisation bringing together construction businesses of every size, led by nine founder members drawn from the industry's institutions, trades and media. According to the CPA, the founders represent building companies, plant hire, construction management, scaffolding and access, skills and training, contracting, the self-employed and construction charities.

Founding members identified in the CPA's release included NASC, The Build Network UK and Construction Sport, alongside the CPA and CIOB. The CPA said membership is open to construction businesses of every size and to the self-employed, and that the coalition had been set up to represent more than 885,000 construction SMEs and micro enterprises.

Hills said: "Decisions that affect construction should be made with the industry, not for it. We want to work constructively with government to give the sector the skills, standards and certainty it needs to deliver."

Hills said the CIOB, as a chartered body, had a remit to act in the public interest, and that most of its chartered company members were SMEs.

The market backdrop

The CPA said the launch coincided with Glenigan data showing a sharp fall in activity. Glenigan's own Index of construction starts to the end of September 2026 put overall activity 2% down on the preceding three months and 18% below a year earlier. The CPA's release cited a 21% year-on-year fall in total starts, to £20.3bn, drawing on separate Glenigan figures.

Glenigan's Index recorded a 101% quarter-on-quarter rise in civils starts, while residential and non-residential starts both fell.

Glenigan Index, three months to September 2026	Change on a year earlier
All project starts	-18%
Residential starts	-33%
Non-residential starts	-16%

Allan Wilen, Glenigan's economics director, said a surge in civil engineering projects had partially offset the decline in residential and non-residential starts.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said construction recorded the largest percentage fall in vacancies of any industry in July to September 2026, down 20.5%. Across the UK, vacancies fell by 21,000, or 2.9%, to 691,000, with decreases in 14 of 18 industry sectors.

The Insolvency Service recorded 3,873 construction company insolvencies in England and Wales in the 12 months to September 2026, 17% of cases where the industry was captured and the highest of any sector. There were 1,882 company insolvencies across all industries in September, 4% fewer than in August and 5% fewer than in September 2025.

What the coalition wants

The CPA listed seven campaign areas. On skills, it wants hiring, training and retention made cheaper and simpler for employers of every size. On tax and fuel, it is calling for a system that rewards investment and protects family businesses, and it said changes to Business Property Relief were among the measures damaging investment.

On regulation, the coalition wants properly resourced planning with a national framework of standardised conditions, and a proportionate Single Construction Regulator for building safety. On net zero, it is asking for technology-neutral decarbonisation with enablers put in place before mandates.

Mulholland said the coalition stood ready to work with the government on policies to restart construction activity. The CPA said businesses can join through the coalition's website, constructiongrowth.co.