Construction Confederation

In July 1997, a new Construction Confederation was launched as an umbrella organisation for:

• The National Federation of Builders (NFB);
• The Major Contractors Group (MCG)
• The National Contractors Federation (NCF)
• The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA)
• The Scottish Building Employers Federation (SBEF)
• The British Woodworking Federation (BWF)
• The Federation of Building Specialist Contractors (FBSC)
• The House Builders Federation (HBF).
• Building Employers Confederation.

It was believed that together they represented 5,000 member companies responsible for more than 75% of construction work in Great Britain.

Their mission was:

• To represent the common interests of constituent organisations.
• To negotiate appropriate agreements on behalf of constituent organisations and represent their interests in pan-industry bodies.
• To provide information and advice to member companies.
• To promote the interests of the industry.

Its first President was Martin Laing, chairman of John Laing plc.

Chief executive, Ian Deslandes, said: This new organisation will provide a unified and much more powerful voice with which to speak on behalf of one of Britain's largest and most important industries. It will enable construction, which accounts for half of Britain's total annual investment and is the largest single industry employer of labour; to punch its full weight in the quarters that matter. We are creating an entirely new organisation which will anticipate and meet our industry's needs in the 21st century.

However, the organisation rapidly fell apart as members such as the National Federation of Builders and the Civil Engineering Contractors' Association withdrew their support.

A £20m whole was then discovered in its pension fund, and in 2009, A judge has ordered that the Construction Confederation be wound-up so that its 500 employees could receive compensation. At the time, its Westminster headquarters building was believed to be worth up to £3m.