More than 100 companies have pulled together to warn prime minister Rishi Sunak that his weakened stance on net zero goals and green policies will have a significant impact on investment in housing.
In a letter seen by The Guardian, major UK property and construction firms, including Landsec, Grosvenor, Avison Young, Great Portland Estates, Knight Frank, BNP Paribas Real Estate and CBRE, have warned that holding back on green policies could cause hardship for many.
The letter reads: “Our industry has been working hard to gear up for that acceleration [of effort needed to meet net zero], but your announcement signalled less not more action needed.
“In order to bring forward big financial investments, to recruit and train hundreds of thousands of people and to bring the public along with us in this journey, we need confidence in long-term active policy support from government. Your announcement has set that back.”
The signatories disagree with Sunak’s stance that delays on green policies would save money for households, arguing “the longer we delay and the more we see stop-start piecemeal policy-making, the harder and more expensive the task becomes.”
Also on the list of 114 signatories were construction firms including Arup, Laing O’Rourke Construction, BAM, Buro Happold, Aecom and Clarion Housing Group.
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