As part of the Industrial Strategy we are striking a series of sector deals. These are partnerships between the government and industry on sector-specific issues and can create significant opportunities to boost productivity, employment, innovation and skills.

Following a process of early engagement, we are now entering into formal negotiations on a built environment sector deal. While these negotiations will shape the final content of any deal, we expect it to meet overarching government objectives of:

• delivering more homes and improving housing quality for example through initiatives that support offsite construction

• improving the sector’s productivity through improved access to data and the promotion of PropTech

• enabling the sector to diversify its workforce through dedicated skills and employment strategies, as well as diversifying its firm base and increasing competitiveness

• promoting clean growth and supporting the sector’s transition to low carbon

The built environment sector deal will bring together investors, developers, real estate and asset management, architecture firms, PropTech firms and others upstream in the supply chain. By focusing on these organisations, the built environment sector deal will enable the implementation and delivery of the construction sector deal.

The sector is crucial to the UK economy: commercial real estate alone employs over 2 million people either directly or indirectly, and generates around 7% of the country’s GDP, as well as delivering great places to live and work. These factors make it fundamental to delivering the government’s strategic objective, including our ambitious housing targets.