At OBAS we don’t go in for taking political sides, as such we’ve endeavoured to consider what the results of the general election will mean for the construction industry from an objective and neutral stance.


For the first time we’ve known for years when the general election will be held, it will take place on the first Thursday in May (7th May 2015).


In these austere times there is little in the way of huge distinctions in the main parties, with all the political class talking about the difference between moderate and less moderate spending cuts which will probably be more or less effective at reducing the national deficit.


The SNP is likely to damage the Labour Party in Scotland whereas UKIP is likely to damage the Conservative Party in its English strongholds both of which want us to make some huge and fundamental decisions about the shape that Britain will take in the future.


Core to the debate is going to be the self-interest of the voting British public. At the end of the day, we all want to have higher living standards, get better services and be charged less in tax. Central to the debate is therefore construction and infrastructure.


The main issues the parties have to wrangle with are housing, energy and transport.


The accepted wisdom is that we need to be building around 220,000 new homes each year to keep up with demand. We have built this number of homes in the last decade, however since the economic crash and coalition spending cuts the number of homes being built has reached a 60 year low.


In 2013 we built around 136,000 new homes whilst in 2014 we built around 141,000 new homes and whilst the increase is to be applauded as it contributes to new homes, new jobs and increased demand for building supplies, there still aren’t enough hard hats knocking around on new housing sites around the UK and the housing crisis is simply being exacerbated.


Labour has put some thought into housing, in 2013 when speaking to the National House-Building Council, Ed Balls said: “You might say that Labour did not move early enough to put house building at the centre of our economic policy when we were in power. You’d be right to say so. When we came into office in 1997, our priority was to tackle the huge backlog in housing repairs.” They’ve got a moderately ambitious target for building 200,000 new homes every year by 2020.


Labour propose to tackle the housing crisis in a number of different ways, the first is to take land from developers who haven’t developed land despite it having planning permission; to ensure UK houses are advertised in the UK before overseas buyers view the property and to promote the creation of new towns and garden cities throughout the country.


Most developers would argue there’s no evidence that land is being sat on waiting for development, rather they’ve waiting on skilled workers to become available to work on their developments, or that the homes being built are being bought by overseas buyers outside the central London area.


All governments formed after the general election, with the exception of UKIP are likely to face the same pressures migration is putting on the housing system and so it can be inferred that most of them will be forced to react in a similar way to the current government.


It’s likely that these future governments will continue to invest in education and promote careers in the construction industry, tinker with the planning process to get developments moving more quickly, increase tax revenues on property and increase the ability of the average person to get a foothold on the property ladder. With the talk of the Northern Powerhouse, HS2 and HS3, and the movement of some in the business community, it’s likely we’ll also see the housing market balance out as governments’ would work on rebalancing the economy.


There will likely also be more investment in energy in the coming parliamentary term, which should be good news for the construction industry, however it’s likely there may be some differences in the type of energy we’ll be investing in depending on the makeup of the legislature, with the Green Party aiming to pick up an additional one or two MPs at the election.


Transport offers some major problems for any future government as well as huge opportunities for the construction industry with rail capacity and HS2 as well as airport capacity and developments at Heathrow and/or Gatwick likely to dominate the debate.


Both these infrastructure projects are political hot potatoes and it’s likely both of them will affect a lot of people when a decision is eventually reached, however it’s likely to go ahead no matter which party dominates the next parliament because Labour need to strengthen their support in the North of England, having lost much of its support base in Scotland and the Conservatives have spent too much energy forcing it through to give up on it now. It’s anticipated that the self-funded Gatwick expansion will go ahead whilst the issue of Heathrow’s necessary redevelopment will probably be kicked into the long grass.


We have seen less investment in infrastructure over the course of the last 5 years and it’s likely that whilst there will be some additional investment in infrastructure a clearer vision with strategic goals needs to be established.


Whatever the outcome of the next general election, the polls so far point to another coalition or even a minority government. The construction industry should be in a great position, historical data suggests the construction industry rebounds strongly after a general election and its likely construction will be central to many of the policy changes the next government makes as it attempts to stimulate the market.