engineerinG 2017
the post-Brexit
outcome
The construction sector also depends on a transitory EU workforce. Skilled labour from other EU countries makes up 9% of the UK construction workforce.
The 2016 National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) details 602 major economic infrastructure projects and programmes planned to 2021, including 24 individual developments valued at £1 billion or over.
Delivery of the programmes and projects in the NIP will need innovative and productive techniques that will require new and different mixes of skills and experience.
The projects and programmes in the NIP are forecast to create a demand to recruit and train nearly 100,000 additional workers by the end of the decade. In addition, the mix of skills required to deliver the investment plans will change over time, leading to
a need to also retrain and upskill around 250,000 of the existing
workforce over the next 10 years.
There can be no doubt that the country needs skilled workers
to build, maintain and operate its economic infrastructure.
Uncertainty about the status of EU workers in the UK is likely to exacerbate recruitment difficulties, resulting in increasing costs where demand for labour outstrips supply and the risk of project delays. This will be particularly relevant for major developments such as High Speed 2, Thames Tideway and electricity generation projects, such as Hinkley Point C.
Energy Single
Market
The UK has been a leader in the development of the internal energy market and EU policy is consistent with the UK’s emphasis on unbundling and renewables. The UK has also been
successful in ensuring a focus on the economic benefits of the single market but less so on accompanying regulation.
One intention of the Energy Single Market is to foster security of supply through greater harmonisation and further physical interconnection.
Given the increasingly multinational nature of energy generation, distribution and supply – particularly in the UK – withdrawal from the EU itself would probably not affect progress towards integration. However, the precise impact depends on the terms of new relations with the EU.
In an extra-EEA/Energy Community situation, the UK would likely cease to be a member of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (an EU agency) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (a not-for-profit association), which have considerable influence in forming regulatory frameworks.
As energy systems become more physically and financially interconnected, it is clear that from an energy security and cost point of view, the UK would be best served by retaining membership of the Energy Community, irrespective of other aspects of its relations with the EU.
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