The Voice of  Construction Leadership Professionals

Join us in shaping the future of UK construction—be part of the UK Construction Industry Task Force driving real change

On 20 November 2025, the Institute of Construction Management formally launched the UK Construction Industry Task Force in the Wilson Suite, Portcullis House, on the Parliamentary Estate, with all seats taken and strong cross‑sector representation. The event was hosted and sponsored by Alison Taylor MP and Samantha Niblett MP, signalling clear parliamentary support for a new, delivery‑focused alliance to drive competence, culture change and higher standards across the built environment.

​Chaired by ICM President David Jones, the launch brought together industry leaders, housing innovators, digital and AI specialists, sustainability experts, and policy influencers to frame a pragmatic programme of work that moves beyond “talking shops” to measurable action. Delegates heard that the Task Force will concentrate on competence, governance, quality of build, and digital transformation as core levers for restoring trust and delivering a safer, more sustainable, future‑ready construction sector.

Parliamentary host sessions and agenda focus

The launch was structured as two sponsor sessions: Session A, led by Alison Taylor MP, and Session B, led by Samantha Niblett MP.

Session A set out the Task Force mission, objectives and industry context, including reflections on Grenfell, the need for deep cultural change, and the importance of embedding collaboration rather than competition in how the sector delivers for communities.

Session B focused on governance of the Task Force, digital transformation, and the structures needed to support long‑term policy engagement and implementation.

Across both sessions, the Wilson Suite provided a fitting parliamentary setting for frank discussion on competence, regulation, and accountability, with contributors emphasising that the Task Force must be judged on delivery rather than declarations. Breakout discussions and networking around the formal agenda helped shape initial work‑stream themes, including competence and quality, housing and social value, digital and data, and climate and sustainability.

External perspectives from LinkedIn: digital, data and quality

Early LinkedIn reflections from partners underline how the launch resonated beyond the room, especially on digitalisation, AI and carbon. The Society 5.0 Institute highlighted the urgency of using verified data, interoperable digital platforms and trustworthy, non‑hallucinating AI to enable meaningful decarbonisation and a genuinely future‑ready sector, warning that construction remains both highly carbon‑intensive and one of the least digitised industries.

​Other attendees used LinkedIn to welcome the Task Force’s commitment to “move from discussion to delivery”, stressing that structured collaboration rather than isolated initiatives must now drive progress on safety, competence and housing supply. Social posts from participants also reflected pride in the ICM’s convening role at the heart of Parliament and the sense that the launch marked a shift towards a more mission‑driven, accountable construction culture.

Emerging workstreams and policy consultations

Two linked consultation initiatives were profiled at the launch and have since been amplified on LinkedIn as central pillars of the Task Force’s next phase.

The first is a proposal for a new arms‑length, not‑for‑profit delivery company (N‑ALMO‑DC) to accelerate high‑quality, community‑led housing, demonstrating what can be achieved when purpose, partnership and professionalism are hard‑wired into delivery.

The second is a call for government to establish an Office for Competence and Quality Build, a national institution dedicated to raising standards of skill, safety and integrity across the built environment. Both proposals will be developed through dedicated Task Force working groups, giving ICM members and partners a direct route to shape national policy frameworks for housing, competence and quality.

Rebuilding Capacity Through Integrity and Competence

The latest CIOB Capacity Constraints in Construction report (October 2025) delivers a clear and sobering message:

...Our industry remains entangled in structural limitations deeper than labour shortages or skills gaps. At their root are systemic flaws — the persistence of brittle governance models, institutional fatigue, and an entrenched tolerance for mediocrity disguised as leadership. The report’s evidence underscores what many have quietly known for years: inefficiency and inertia continue to cost lives, time, and trust... 

For the Institute of Construction Management, these findings resonate powerfully. Over the past two years, we were invited to revitalise a regional leadership platform for London and the South East that had lain dormant for several decades.  That experience exposed the same cultural frailties now documented in national data. We entered a landscape where committees had long stopped listening to those on the ground. Policy language was polished, yet the purpose was often hollow.

What we discovered was not simply negligence — it was the subtle architecture of the workaround culture. Processes existed largely to create talking shops to justify more processes. Reports were written to meet contractual targets rather than to drive learning. And behind the bureaucratic veneer, a small but noisy group perpetuated cynical narratives about a so‑called “health and safety gravy train” and the “competence business” — phrases that revealed an astonishing contempt for the very principles they were meant to uphold.

We understood then, and the CIOB report now confirms, that such attitudes have become a serious constraint on the sector’s capacity to grow, reform, and self‑govern. Inward protectionism, hidden agendas, and moral evasions dressed up as pragmatism are not harmless quirks; they are corrosive forces that fracture professional trust and block true competence from flourishing ... 

... indeed, the launch of the Task Force was planned to happen a year ago; the iconic oak-lined Committee Room 15 on the grand corridor in the Palace of Westminster was sponsored for the launch on 21 October 2024 ─ eventually, the backstory of how that was extraordinarily hijacked by a 'trusted' empowered industry leader will need to be told! ... perhaps, to explain why we're approaching the ninth sad anniversary of the totally avoidable tragic fire at Grenfell ... but, not now! ... today let's be happy Task Force is now launched!  

ICM chose a different road entirely.

When invited to step into that space, our approach was founded on authentic leadership, validation through action, and transparency without compromise. We did not arrive to perpetuate networks of convenience. We came to redefine competence as a duty, not a commodity.

Our guiding belief is simple: competence must never become an income stream for those who measure it, but a standard of assurance for those who rely upon it. Health and safety are not rhetorical shields or marketing badges — they are moral obligations owed to every worker, client, and member of the public who trusts this industry’s output.

This philosophical stance became the seed of the ICM Task Force for Building Competence and Safety Reform. It was born out of necessity — a pragmatic yet ethical response to the patterns of evasive culture we observed. The Task Force now stands as a catalyst for joined‑up thinking, drawing from real working practitioners, responsible leaders, and change-makers determined to restore the connection between declared values and delivered outcomes.

Our mission is not to call out names; history will do that in its own time. Our mission is to strengthen the spine of an industry that must once again be trusted to regulate itself with integrity. True capacity is not measured in headcount or infrastructure but in courage, candor, and collaboration.

As the data now remind us, construction’s bottleneck is not merely economic — it is ethical. The remedy lies in the reinvention of professional culture: one that makes accountability habitual, learning continuous, and leadership unafraid. That is where ICM’s energy is now fully directed.

Reform, after all, is not about distance from failure. It is about refusing to repeat it.

As we approach the end of 2025 and new horizons open 2026++ for the ICM, the Construction Industry Task Force [CITF], and the Built Environment, this is your Call to Action! - please use the links below to connect and engage ...