Dave Evans is the chief executive of Highbourne Group
The construction sector employs over 2.9 million workers and contributes 9% of the UK’s GDP, and with that influence comes a real responsibility to help build a better future for our country.
From contractors to traders, we all feel this responsibility and we all have our own role to play in driving positive change.
“Industry-wide challenges require industry-wide solutions. Individual organizations can make progress, but achieving real change requires more than we can deliver alone.”
But there’s one area in particular where industry leaders recognize we have work to do, and that’s taking bigger and more immediate steps to improve equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in our industry.
For a multitude of complex reasons, the industry has long faced challenges in addressing this issue, and we have to be honest: diversity and inclusion in our industry doesn’t always reflect the communities we’re building for.
That’s why CEOs from across the industry have come together to find a solution.
The result is the birth of the Construction Inclusion Coalition (CIC), driven by 11 leading sector organisations, representing over 250,000 workers, with the ambition to improve EDI across the sector.
The Built on Better Pledge
The CIC has been created to make measurable progress and will actively seek to encourage businesses across the sector to join the coalition and undertake the Built on Improvement Pledge, a joint commitment across seven different areas to create change. Industry-wide collaboration is important because, while many contractors have diversity and inclusion policies, we can learn a lot from each other to raise standards.
If you need statistics to demonstrate the need for action, here are some powerful ones:
- Just 2 per cent of women say they would choose construction as an industry they would feel welcome in, a survey published at the CIC launch revealed.
- Only 36 per cent of Britons would trust that their family or female friends would be safe and respected if they joined the construction industry.
- Women represent only 15 percent of employees in the sector.
- The number of people of minority origin is 6%.
- Nearly one million construction workers are expected to retire in the next 10 years.
It would be hard to look at these numbers and not conclude that things need to change, even before considering the benefits that EDI policies bring to businesses and the happiness of those who work for them.
The bottom line is that as an industry we are losing a lot of talent, including potential leaders, and putting the future of the industry at risk in the process.
Why is the CIC important?
Our view is that industry-wide challenges require industry-wide solutions. Organizations and individual businesses can make progress, but delivering real change requires more than we can deliver alone.
CIC founding members will work together to enhance the impact of individual EDI initiatives, fostering collaboration and establishing a network to share knowledge and resources across the industry.
Those who have already joined, and the many who we hope will follow suit, should sign up for the Built On Better Pledge.
The seven areas they are committed to working on include:
- Promote the recruitment, retention and progression of underrepresented groups in the sector.
- Foster an environment that encourages feedback and greater satisfaction from underrepresented groups.
- Transform the internal processes of doubts and complaints that can be raised by all colleagues.
- We promise to measure and report on our progress year after year to ensure continued progress and development.
Above all, the CIC is calling on everyone in the industry, from homebuilders and contractors to manufacturers, logistics companies and suppliers, to come together and participate in making the industry we all love fairer, more diverse and more inclusive.
The campaign has been supported by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), which brings together business leaders from across the construction industry and links them with the UK Government. There is a real sense from all involved that now is the time to make meaningful and tangible progress.
Progress will be tracked annually and shared in a public report, and the faster we grow, the more we can deliver.
Now is the time to act and make real change possible. To learn more about CIC’s work and goals, visit the website and explore the #BuiltOnBetter hashtag.
