Podcast Episode #16: Material Matters, Cut and Fill
May 5, 2026
Explore how early cut and fill strategy, sequencing and on‑site material management shape cost, programme and environmental outcomes on development projects.
Autumn Budget 2025 – BCIS Webinar Summary (Richard MacLean & Dr David Croswaithe)
The 2025 Autumn Budget has delivered a mix of infrastructure commitments, planning system reforms and skills funding, but alongside persistent cost pressures for construction businesses. The overall outcome is mixed: some medium-term pipeline clarity, but little relief for inflationary cost pressures or immediate sector-wide growth.
Key Budget Measures & What They Mean for Construction / Built Environment
- The Government reaffirmed a £120 billion capital investment programme for housing, transport and infrastructure.
- Major projects remain supported, including the £900 million funding for the Lower Thames Crossing and broader commitments to regional infrastructure, transport and energy works.
- On planning and local government capacity: The Budget allocates £48 million for local planning authorities, enabling recruitment of 350 extra planners. That is intended to accelerate planning approvals for housing and commercial projects.
- On skills and workforce: The Budget supports free (or publicly funded) training/apprenticeships for under-25s at SMEs, which should help support labour supply.
- On tax & cost pressure: Employers will face higher labour and payroll costs due to the increase in the National Living Wage and minimum wage rates, while the continued freeze of NIC thresholds and upcoming restrictions on pension salary-sacrifice relief will further raise employment costs over time.
- On landfill tax / waste-disposal cost risk: The previously proposed single-rate landfill tax has been abandoned, meaning the previous two-tier system remains (including the quarry exemption), relieving some potential cost pressure for waste-heavy sectors (including housing, infrastructure).
BCIS / Sector Assessment — How This Lines Up with Prior Expectations
Using the Red-Amber-Green framework, where Red = no meaningful progress, Amber = some movement but insufficient detail, and Green = a positive or meaningful step forward:
- Business Costs: Payroll tax, wage increases, and cost pressures remain unmitigated; margins likely squeezed.
- Resources & Supply Chain: Apprenticeships and training support help but do not fully solve labour supply and skill shortage.
- Planning Capacity: The £48 m boost to recruit 350 planners is a tangible improvement; reforms expected to progressively ease delays.
- Infrastructure & Pipeline: The maintained capital investment and project funding (including Lower Thames Crossing and infrastructure commitments) support medium-term workload visibility.
- Housing Delivery: Despite planning and infrastructure investment, no direct demand-side stimulus for house buyers or major policy to accelerate housing delivery. Existing housing targets remain challenging.
- Future Standards & Carbon/Decarbonisation: While there is backing for energy and infrastructure projects (including nuclear, grid and renewables support) under the Budget, there is no strong, unified new package for low-carbon materials, and construction cost pressures remain high.
Building Safety Act Implementation
The Autumn Budget did not introduce new measures to accelerate the Building Safety Act regime, but it sits against a backdrop of operational changes within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) intended to improve the approval process. From January, the Building Safety Regulator will also become independent from the Health and Safety Executive, which is intended to strengthen its capacity and focus as it continues to manage high volumes of Gateway 1–3 applications.
Recent updates show the BSR is making progress on clearing delays in Gateway 2 approvals: the number of older, outstanding cases was almost cut in half over 12 weeks, and more than 500 applications were processed. The regulator has also restructured its process, shifting new-build higher-risk building cases into an “Innovation Unit” to increase throughput, although overall volumes remain high and remediation cases continue to experience delays.
The Budget did not provide additional direct support, funding or legislative measures to accelerate these processes. Instead, implementation challenges around Gateways 1–3 remain, and while BSR operational reforms are helping, approvals are still likely to be a limiting factor for project timelines. The regulator aims to clear its legacy Gateway 2 backlog by the end of January, but the Budget itself did not materially influence this trajectory.
Disputes & Risk Management
Evolving disputes and risk environment for construction and engineering firms:
- Persisting cost pressure (wages, materials, logistics, regulatory costs) increases the likelihood of contractual disputes, especially around variations, delay, extensions of time and pain/gain mechanisms.
- Inflationary conditions and squeezed margins heighten the risk of insolvency-related disputes, supply-chain failures and claims for cost recovery.
- A renewed focus on major infrastructure delivery may increase the complexity of risk allocation, particularly on NEC and design-build forms where responsibilities for compliance (including building safety obligations) are not always aligned with supply-chain capability.
- Clients are expected to tighten procurement, governance and assurance processes, meaning contractors and consultants must be prepared for more robust contractual scrutiny and heightened expectations around reporting, quality and cost control.
- The Budget’s lack of significant short-term relief heightens the importance of early dispute avoidance, proactive risk registers, clear change-control and disciplined contract administration.
Housing Market
House prices are rising only marginally and remain below inflation. First-time buyer activity is subdued, and valuation pressures at the upper end of the market (e.g., mansion tax discussions) create market uncertainty. Consultancy capacity remains constrained.
How can we help?
- We can support clients to get applications ready and submitted quickly.
- We can help clients plan budgets realistically and flag potential cost risks early.
- We may be able to offer more programme management support.
- We should assist clients in building realistic timelines for delivery.
- We should be able to provide clear guidance on any changes to legislation which may affect them.
- We should monitor pipelines and position ourselves early for upcoming opportunities.
- It is important we maintain good risk management and keep risk registers up to date.
- We should prioritise early engagement and clear communication with our clients
Conclusion
The Autumn Budget offers some constructive elements (infrastructure funding, planning capacity, skills support), but also substantial cost pressures and limited support for private housing demand or immediate sector-wide growth. For firms like ours, the most sustainable path forward lies in sensible risk management and selective tendering.
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