CECA members were recently joined at a roundtable discussion by Stuart Young from the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) to hear about the Council’s plans for 2026. In this short blog piece Ben Goodwin, CECA’s Director of Policy and Public Affairs, sets out what CLC has in store for the year ahead.
The CLC brings together government, businesses and other key stakeholders to drive improvements across the built environment sector.
CECA members in attendance at the roundtable heard how the CLC will focus on four overarching priorities during 2026. These are:
- People and Skills
- Next Generation Delivery
- Net Zero and Biodiversity
- Building Safety
For people and skills, CLC will be seeking to support the Construction Skills Mission Board in its aim of recruiting 100,000 additional workers into the built environment sector. This will include work to develop regional skills hubs.
There are also plans to establish a more coherent way forward on post-16 education and skills proposals, alongside wider apprenticeship reforms.
Under the next generation delivery priority, the focus will be on supporting the development of legislation to the tackle late payment practices across the construction industry and to unlock new business models that can improve productivity.
CECA participated in the UK Government’s 2025 consultation on late payments. Tackling this issue is a must for many of our SME members who often struggle from a cash flow perspective due to late payment practices.
In relation to net zero and biodiversity, CLC will be providing a range of support to government on areas including circular economy and the Warm Homes Plan, whilst a new sector performance framework will be published.
Finally, on buidling safety the Council will focus its efforts on the implementation of the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations and supporting work around bringing forward a Single Construction Regulator.
As a member of the CLC, CECA members can share their thoughts on these priorities (and other market insights) with me to raise at its weekly meetings.
There was also time for discussion and feedback from roundtable attendees, which centred around several themes, including the need to ensure joined-up working between CLC and NISTA (National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority).
For CECA getting the NISTA pipeline working effectively from a market insight point of view is critical in enabling our members to plan business activity with more certainty.
There was also discussion on the aforementioned proposals for a Single Construction Regulator, with the need for a consistent approach to safety and compliance quite rightly highlighted as imperative.
The roundtable also provided an opportunity to hear about the work that CLC are doing on mental health and site culture. In particular, the Council’s joint research with Mates in Mind and the University of Warwick to identify the primary root causes for poor mental health in construction. More information on this important initiative can be found here.
CECA’s next roundtable discussion will look at the implications of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act for civil engineering contractors and the steps that CECA members can take to stay compliant. It will take place on 25 February. For more information contact enquiries@ceca.co.uk.