CIOB and the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly Elections

As the Northern Ireland Assembly elections approach and the candidates make their final pitches for the vote on 5 May, CIOB Northern Ireland has published a manifesto highlighting key policy areas that we believe the incoming administration should have high on their agenda for the next Programme for Government. 

Whilst elections in Northern Ireland are often fought on constitutional issues, there seems to be a new determination, amongst industry and community alike, to demand that our elected representatives focus more on the day-to-day issues that impact on all of us.

CIOB Northern Ieland

As the CIOB, we provide our views as the world’s largest professional body for construction management, with our Charter ensuring that we work in the public interest. We accredit university degrees, educational courses and training in universities and colleges in Ireland. Our professional and vocational qualifications are a mark of the highest levels of competence and professionalism, providing assurance to clients and other professionals procuring built assets. The CIOB also has a dedicated policy and research function, whose expertise we have drawn on, as well as that of our members, in the preparation of our manifesto. Locally, we provide representation on several platforms such as the Construction Professionals Council NI, the Construction Industry Group and the All-Party Group on Construction. We have a complimentary mixture of staff and active members all playing their part.

Our Asks

In our manifesto we have focused on four key policy areas that we would like our prospective elected representatives to consider.

- Ensuring that our buildings are not only of the highest standard, but are also safe to live, work and play in.

- Delivering the skills at all levels to deliver Northern Ireland’s built environment of the future

- Providing leadership and resources to work towards Net Zero

- Continuing to deliver improvement to public sector procurement

From a policy perspective, the last two years have seen the launch of a Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland, a Housing Supply Strategy, a Programme for Government Framework, a Climate Change Bill, and a series of reforms to public procurement, all of which directly impact the built environment. The CIOB has contributed to each of these initiatives through consultation responses and direct engagement with public bodies. With this upcoming election, 2022 is the time to drive each of these policy areas forward, and to equip Northern Ireland for the challenges that will face its built environment for the remainder of this decade. It is with this in mind that we set out CIOB’s vision for the future of Northern Ireland’s built environment in our manifesto. To deliver on each of these policy priorities CIOB Northern Ireland is calling for the next Assembly to create a stable policy environment for the construction sector with long term strategies for housing and retrofit, a national development plan, and accompanying financial commitments.

Our members locally work in all sectors of construction, from contractors to consultants, designers to project managers. We strongly believe that amongst the many competing voices to be heard at an election, the views of the built environment profession should be heard, to highlight both the challenges and the opportunities that our sector faces, and which can in turn have a major impact on wider society.

Next Steps

We ask that all our local members read our manifesto  and use the resources on our NI Assembly Election campaign page to engage with local candidates and political parties on the issues it raises.