Why now?

In July 2026, Andy Burnham became Prime Minister with the built environment at the centre of his agenda. His premiership is built around utilities reform, reindustrialisation and regeneration, including hundreds of thousands of new council homes and a series of major rail projects.

A government that depends on the built environment to deliver its priorities is redrawing its industrial strategy right now. That gives the sector a narrow window to make its case before the new framework is settled.

The case is a strong one. In 2025, NLA partnered with Greater London Authority Economics and the London School of Economics to measure the built environment as a whole. Taken together, its core professions and services:

London has an unrivalled concentration of built environment businesses, spanning architecture, engineering, construction, planning, real estate and technology. The sector's strength also reaches across the whole country, with significant room to grow.

That's why NLA is relaunching One Built Environment. The campaign brings together everyone who plans, funds, designs, builds and operates the places that shape our lives. It calls on government to formally recognise the built environment as one connected sector within the UK Industrial Strategy.

We're asking organisations across the sector to back the campaign and help make the case for change.

👉 Read the full research report