by Clair Mooney | 26 Sep, 2025 | Main News Feed, Skills, Sustainability
FIS is supporting The Future Skyline Skills Commitment to encourage built environment employers to offer more inclusive workplaces and training, especially green skills training, to attract and retain new talent, including young people aged 16-18.
The construction industry is about people, progress, and possibility. This commitment, developed by the City of London Corporation and the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline (FSSC) Taskforce, empowers us to shape a
sector that is sustainable, inclusive and future-ready.
Iain McIlwee FIS CEO and Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Strategy Board Member said:
The Skills Shortage is a systemic problem that is impacting the market now and has the potential to choke expected future construction. The City of London Corporation recognise that this in turn has the potential to impact the attractiveness of London as leading global business hub.
The scale of the problem is enormous and particularly acute in London that was more reliant on migrant workers than other parts of the UK. The supply chain, from supplier and contractor through to client, needs to work together to create the right conditions to invest and work collectively to ensure we are finding the next cohort of workers now, have a stable pipeline of people wanting to join the industry in the future and the training infrastructure to deliver this. It has been amazing to work on the Skills for a Sustainable Taskforce Leadership Taskforce, I have learned loads, made amazing connections and found new hope. I applaud the City of London Corporation for creating this Taskforce and the collaborative ecosystem that is now working to support our common goal of fixing the skills crisis in London and look forward to being part of the next stage of the work – delivering it!”
To launch the Future Skyline Skills Commitment, The Skyline Skills Hub is hosting an in-person launch reception on the evening of Wednesday 1 October from 18.30-19.15pm (with networking before and afterwards), hosted at NLA’s The London Centre (3 Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH. Iain McIlwee will be attending the launch event, and is encouraging members to join him and hear about the commitment and how it can drive change in the sector, promoting sustainability and inclusivity by inspiring companies to take practical actions to address the sector’s skills gap.
by Clair Mooney | 25 Sep, 2025 | Health and Safety, Main News Feed
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has today published a consultation on its mental health project. The CLC’s Health Safety and Wellbeing Summit on 1 July set out mental health as one of its priority focus areas (as part of its wider Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy), with the aim to create an environment that fosters better mental health for the people that work in the UK construction industry.
The CLC held a series of focus groups across England, in partnership with Mates in Mind and the University of Warwick, to identify the primary root causes for poor mental health in construction. Today’s consultation which is open until 5 November 2025, details those causes and invites stakeholders across the industry for their views on what can be done to eliminate or reduce them.
The importance of this work is illustrated by the fact the suicide rate in UK construction is four times the national average which is unacceptable.
Whilst we know there are lots of factors that affect a person’s mental health, with some work related and some not, these are not numbers. They are husbands, wives, dads, mums, children and friends. The time for systemic change is now. We all have a responsibility to our workforce to improve the health and wellbeing of our people.
Today’s consultation focuses on the measures that the UK construction industry can take to reduce the future likelihood of poor mental health in the sector.
We want to hear your views and ambitions for how we can collectively come together to reduce or eliminate the challenges colleagues and friends are experiencing across the sector. Change is needed.
We will then analyse the consultation results, before agreeing and publishing, in Spring 2026, an action plan with supporting guidance with industry leaders, and key stakeholders on what we can jointly do to address the root causes.
Mark Reynolds, Co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council said:
“As leaders in the built environment and construction sector, we have a collective responsibility to our workforce to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of our people.
By working in partnership and being ambitious, we can drive improvements in mental health across the sector, ensuring a positive working environment for our current and future workforce.
Today’s consultation is a vital step in that journey, enabling us to bring together the views of industry in this space to inform our public Spring 2026 action plan. I would encourage you to respond and give us your views”.
Feed your response into the consultation here
by Clair Mooney | 18 Sep, 2025 | Main News Feed
The energy market has seen some big developments in recent weeks, with new charges and increased grid costs set to impact all businesses.
To help cut through the noise, FIS Associate Member Enexus Energy, has created a jargon-free guide that explains:
- The new Nuclear RAB levy (what it is, how much it costs, and when it starts)
- Why TNUoS transmission charges are rising much more than expected
- The potential impact on standing charges and existing contracts
- What options may be available to help mitigate the increases
These are complex changes that have a lot of different variables. But broadly speaking, businesses will see an increase in standing charges for fixed contracts from 2026 onwards.
If you are interested in reviewing your energy, Enexus is offering FIS members a free energy health check to help save money, boost efficiency, and plan ahead with confidence. You can find out more about this offer at https://www.thefis.org/membership-hub/memberbenefits/enexus/
by Clair Mooney | 17 Sep, 2025 | Main News Feed
Local Government East (LGE) is seeking to understand micro / small businesses experiences of working with councils, or their reasons for choosing not to trade with them.
This short survey, which will only take two minutes of your time and is completely anonymous, will help LGE understand how they can remove barriers for small/ micro businesses accessing public sector business.
Over 95% of all registered UK companies are small or micro businesses. These businesses make an essential contribution to the prosperity of local communities and we would urge everyone to make their voice heard
The survey link is here and responses are required by Friday 3 October 2025.
by Iain McIlwee | 11 Sep, 2025 | Main News Feed
by Iain McIlwee | 27 Aug, 2025 | Main News Feed
On 1st July 2025 Build UK published Version 5 of the
Common Assessment Standard (CAS). Significantly the
Building Safety section, introduced in 2024, will now become
mandatory for all FIS Members undertaking regulated design or building work (not just Higher Risk Buildings).
Principal Contractors are advising that Specialist Contractors in their supply chain should have successfully completed the Building Safety section by 1 October 2025.
What does this mean to FIS Members?
If your company is already CAS certified through one of the recognised Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) providers (e.g CHAS, Constructionline, Achilles etc), you will need to complete the new mandatory Building Safety question set as part of the updated overall question set the next time you renew or go through the certification process with a Recognised Assessment Body.
The Common Assessment Standard continues to gain traction across public and private sector clients as a key tool to demonstrate organisational capability and compliance under the Building Safety Act. Certification is required only once via any of the Recognised Assessment Bodies, and businesses are encouraged to review their current accreditations to avoid duplication and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in pre-qualification.
FIS has (since Version 5 was published) been invited to join the working group that sets the standards so members are encouraged to feed any concerns or observations around the existing questions to jamesparlour@thefis.org.
FIS also hosts a mirror group that is, as well as reviewing and feeding into the assessment criteria, helping create resources and guidance to support members in completing this section including an Integrated Management Standard, a Template Building Safety Policy and a range of resources and guidance designed to help complete key questions.
Don’t Duplicate, Data Share!
The Common Assessment Standard is being used by a growing number of organisations across the industry to demonstrate that members of their supply chains have the organisational capability to fulfil their duties under the Building Safety Act. Pagabo and Structure Tone are the latest to specify it, and a full list is on the Build UK website.
Companies that have the Common Assessment Standard from any one of the Recognised Assessment Bodies do not need to obtain certification from any others. Instead, they can agree to share their data at no cost with the other Recognised Assessment Bodies so it is visible to more Contractors and Clients. Don’t duplicate: anyone wishing to see a reduction in the bureaucracy of pre-qualification should be sharing their data rather than getting the Common Assessment Standard from multiple Recognised Assessment Bodies. Giving permission to share your data is quick and simple and will help businesses across the supply chain to save time and money and win work.
If you have been certified through the Common Assessment Standard are being asked to use a specific PQQ procedure, FIS has prepared some specific wording to send to the company requesting and a whistle blowing process to help ensure that companies are not required to hold multiple accreditations.
