The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has published its manifesto ahead of the upcoming Welsh Election. 

The manifesto sets out five clear priority areas where CIOB believes action is needed from the next Welsh Government to better support the nation’s construction and built environment sector. These priorities relate to retrofitting, including its delivery and funding, procurement processes for public work and the construction skills gap.

The manifesto recommends practical and realistic steps future leaders can take to improve the construction sector to the benefit of Wales, which CIOB says is a “barometer” for the country’s economic landscape.

David Kirby, who leads CIOB’s Policy and Public Affairs work in Wales, said: “The importance of the built environment continues to be acknowledged by policymakers of all levels and members of the public across Wales. However, since the last Senedd election in 2021, the sector continues to face challenges.

“The growing skills gap and recruitment issues alongside continued high energy costs, material costs, labour costs and a tough economy more widely, means the sector in Wales struggles when compared to the rest of the UK, and many construction companies have ceased trading as a result. This is particularly negatively impacting SMEs, which make up the majority of the Welsh construction sector.

“Our five key priorities, if addressed by the next Government, will go a long way towards helping construction SMEs thrive, attract more people into the sector and upgrade homes across the nation to make them safer, warmer and more energy efficient.”  

CIOB’s manifesto priorities for the next Welsh Government are:

Priority 1 - Retrofit and climate

• Develop and implement a retrofit plan for the private housing market, including owner-occupiers
• Develop an environmental remediation and mitigation plan to protect the wider built environment and the people that use it from extreme weather events.

CIOB says a long-term, joined-up retrofit plan would go a long way to providing assurance and confidence to the sector, ensuring employers can reap the benefits of upskilling their workforce in green skills and future-proofing their business for years to come.  

The organisation adds recent weather extremes caused by climate change, including flash flooding and heatwaves across much of Wales, show there is also a need for any retrofit plan to include measures to reduce overheating in homes.

Priority 2 – Financing of retrofit measures

• Create financial incentives for retrofit measures for all housing tenures and types such as a zero interest ‘Help to Fix’ loan.

CIOB warns a retrofit and implementation plan is extremely unlikely to succeed without a change to the funding structures in place for decarbonised heating. They say retrofit measures are considered too expensive for many households so additional ways to stimulate retrofit are needed such as an interest free loan for homeowners to improve their properties.

CIOB also recommends Welsh Government examines use of the taxation system to incentivise decarbonisation. Land Transaction Tax (LTT) and Council Tax are devolved to Welsh Government but have not been levied to incentivise homeowners. CIOB believes there is scope to reduce the tax burdens or, in the case of LTT, remove it altogether in certain situations, to free up money for people to decarbonise their properties.

Priority 3 - Procurement

• Improve procurement processes for public work, including tender processes and ensuring they contain realistic time and cost aims
• Ensure processes are fair to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

In Wales, 99 per cent of construction companies are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), 96 per cent of which employ fewer than 13 people. Recent CIOB research showed procurement is a huge barrier to SME construction companies for a range of reasons, including them not having the same dedicated procurement resource as larger contractors, a complex tender process, and unrealistic financial and time constraints for projects. The tender process itself is time-consuming. This is problematic for many smaller businesses, many of which do not have the time or resource to devote to applications.

CIOB encourages the next Welsh Government to introduce further devolution of tendering and procurement to local authorities, with the caveat that this needs to go alongside additional funding, resourcing, and training for these bodies. Local authorities are uniquely placed to identify and source local suppliers and contractors who can undertake work competently, without having to rely on larger organisations and overlook SMEs.

Priority 4 – Recruiting people into construction

• Adopt a more holistic view of construction skills, shifting the focus from just getting young people into the sector, to encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds into the sector
• Work with the construction sector to improve training and retention of construction professionals from a range of backgrounds, for example ex-offenders and asylum-seekers.

CIOB says the traditional pipeline of skills into the sector, primarily apprenticeships for 16–18-year-olds, no longer suffices. Competition is at an all-time high for entry-level roles, and many construction companies in Wales, particularly SMEs, cannot afford apprentices. CIOB wants to see the next Welsh Government shift its focus from solely getting young people into the industry, to focussing on all ages of people, many of whom have a wealth of transferable skills that could be put to good use in the construction sector, such as those recently made redundant from Tata Steel in Port Talbot.

Priority 5 – Construction skills survey 

• Conduct a skills survey across Wales to identify what skills are needed and where to provide a clear picture and inform future decisions around training provision and funding.

CIOB believes data from a nationwide skills survey will enable bodies like them and educational institutions to better design courses they know will be valuable, and the future Welsh Government can offer funding where appropriate with the confidence it will be put to good use.

For example, it’s known mid and north Wales face different skills pressures to the South-East, and employers in those areas consistently lose talent to larger scale projects elsewhere in Wales and across the border to areas like Merseyside. Such a survey may also be an opportunity to identify construction-adjacent fields that need greater focus, for example planners.

CIOB’s full manifesto can be found in both Welsh and English at CIOB Welsh Election 2026 Manifesto / Maniffesto Cymru CIOB 2026 | CIOB

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