The Government has published its Industrial Strategy and accompanying 10-year investment plan, outlining a vision to stimulate business investment across eight key growth sectors.

The strategy focuses on regional development, long-term policy stability, and deeper collaboration between industry and the state.

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) responded positively to the announcement, emphasising the foundational role that the construction sector will play in delivering the physical infrastructure necessary to support the plan’s ambitions.

Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the NFB, said:

“Construction will build the premises that businesses need, deliver the homes which stop brain drain, and ensure the infrastructure, such as transport or energy, can support investment. It is therefore heartening to see a government understand that without a healthy construction industry, growth is neither deliverable nor sustainable.

Alongside the targeted approaches to encourage investors and investment, the nod to spatial planning and regional strategy is hugely important and will ensure opportunity is spread across the nation, while building on and growing specific sectors that develops the UK economy.”

The strategy is organised around four central pillars: simplifying the business environment, promoting regional investment, accelerating high-potential sectors, and strengthening the partnership between government and industry.

The eight identified priority sectors are:

  • Advanced Manufacturing

  • Creative Industries

  • Clean Energy Industries

  • Digital and Technologies

  • Professional and Business Services

  • Life Sciences

  • Financial Services

  • Defence

Beresford added:

“Cheaper energy. More certain planning processes. Stronger supply chains. More skilled workers. All these are a recipe for success, and as the enabler of the growth, the construction industry stands alongside the Government to achieve them.”

The NFB’s response underscores the sector’s long-standing call for certainty in planning and investment, as well as its role in delivering the infrastructure needed to unlock wider economic development.