Ray O’Rourke is the founder & chief executive of Laing O’Rourke 

The British economy is facing the greatest contraction we have ever seen and the government got it right last week: the quickest way out of it is to, “build, build, build”. To deliver this desperately needed economic revival, the UK needs an innovative, productive and resilient construction sector. At Laing O’Rourke, we stand ready to play a leading role in transforming the sector and delivering the government’s ambitious plan.

Our operating model, based on DfMA 70:60:30, via offsite manufacturing in our own UK factories and onsite delivery by a directly employed UK workforce of 8,000people, has helped us weather the worst of the Covid crisis. It has been tough and we have had to make difficult decisions, but we have continued to deliver projects for clients and are on track to return to full productivity in our Europe hub operations by the end of July.

Throughout the crisis, we have continued what is now an 11-year continual investment in manufacturing technology and innovation, including at our Centre of Excellence for Modern Construction in Nottinghamshire and other sites, which have been the birthplace of more than 350 precision-engineered buildings and infrastructure projects.

But ongoing success depends on an appetite for change – from government and industry.

To date, the government’s ambitions have been lofty – building up to 40 new hospitals, refurbishing and building dozens of schools and a continued commitment to major projects such as HS2. The government must urgently publish its overdue infrastructure strategy and set out exactly what it wants delivered and by when. This will enable the construction industry and its supply chain to plan ahead.

“Unlike all other industries that have innovated, digitised and evolved, ours is yet to fully grasp the opportunities open to us to”

Specific commitments and a clear pipeline will bring private investors back to the table. In return, the industry must play its own part in the recovery. Our sector is still largely building in a way the Victorians would recognise. Unlike almost all other industries that have innovated, digitised and evolved, ours is yet to fully grasp the opportunities open to us to.

As we emerge from this crisis, we have to finally change how the industry operates. There is already a new, proven way of constructing the buildings and infrastructure society will rely on. Modern methods of construction shift the work away from construction sites and into safe, sustainable, high-tech manufacturing facilities – where new, inclusive, high-skilled jobs can be created, in regional centres.

Digital design and precision engineering work together to produce whole sections of buildings, which can then be assembled on site with much greater accuracy, efficiency and speed. The more we do, the better it gets. We can now deliver a 600-bedhospital in 98 weeks, down from the four years it would take using traditional construction methods.

In the future, this will be the new normal, if we take the right steps now.

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