Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
The organisers of the Get Britain Building Campaign are launching the campaign to consumers at the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC later this month.
Staged by Homebuilding & Renovating, the self-build and home improvement publication, the launch will urge consumers to pledge their support for the campaign. Get Britain Building is organised by the BMF, British Precast, Modern Masonry Alliance and FMB and is the construction industry’s largest-ever coalition. It calls on the Government to help the beleaguered building industry and to introduce a series of measures that will benefit the homeowner and breathe life back into the property market.
On Friday March 20 the Show organisers, the campaign organisers, MPs from all parties, industry body leaders and members of the public will join together to launch a consumer campaign to help revive the property market and support the building industry. Visitors to the Show will be invited to sign a petition asking for help from the Government.
“A lack of lending is preventing buyers from entering the market and therefore builders from creating new homes. Equally, although the home improvement sector is holding firm, homeowners are more careful with their budgets. Intervention is needed to kickstart the market, which will help revive the building industry – and the rest of the UK economy,” said Michael Holmes, Editor in Chief of Homebuilding & Renovating.
Mike Leonard, Director of the Modern Masonry Alliance and one of the leaders of the GBB campaign said, “We are delighted that Homebuilding & Renovating is uniting with fellow colleagues to put the case for the building industry. Cutting VAT, for instance, to 5% in the April budget would make a huge difference to our economy and save thousands of jobs.”
Over two million people work in the building industry which is suffering its worst recession for over two decades. Eight firms are going bust every day, house building is at its lowest level since 1924 and 300,000 workers are forecast to lose their jobs. This is storing up problems for the future as once the construction industry is depleted, it will take years to get back up to speed.
Measures that benefit the consumer include cutting VAT on home improvement projects to 5% (a reduction of 10%), re-introducing MIRAS (tax relief on mortgage interest payments), reforming stamp duty to make it fairer, simplifying the planning process and encouraging banks to start lending again.
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