CIAT welcomes Comprehensive Spending Review that puts UK on road to rebuilding

Responding to the announcement, CIAT President Eddie Weir PCIAT, said:

Across the UK, too many people are living in draughty homes, being priced out of their communities, or waiting for social housing. Too many of our schools and hospitals are creaking with age. Too many of our innovative businesses are constrained by lack of premises or good transport connections. 

Chartered Architectural Technologists are passionate about delivering a high-quality built environment that enables families and communities to thrive. But for too long, a chronic lack of investment has seen us heading the wrong way.

Today's announcements signal a major shift in direction, with additional infrastructure spending of £39 billion for social and affordable homes, £10 billion for Homes England to crowd in public investment and £13.2 billion for the Warm Homes Plan, not to mention investments in school building, prison places, the NHS estate, and key transport links. Devolved Administrations will see settlements of £52 billion, £23 billion and £22 billion for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland respectively. 

But a lack of investment is not the only roadblock that the Spending Review has sought to remove. We urgently need more skilled professionals, and CIAT welsomes the commitment to delivering up to £1.2 billion per year to expand apprenticeships and training capacity in sectors such as the built environment. 

Now, Government must work with the industry to ensure these investments deliver the skills we need, and to ensure that the planning and regulatory regimes drive rapid increases in delivery, without sacrificing quality.

There is still a long way to go to the 1.5 million new, high-quality homes and five million retrofits we so urgently need. But this Spending Review means that, for the first time in a long time, we can see the road in front of us. As the ancient proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This might just prove to be that step.