Construction minister
There is no official title of construction minister within the UK government, however, there is generally a minister whose role includes construction (and generally infrastructure). As part of their role, they generally serve as co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council.
This is typically a relatively short appointment, much to the annoyance of the construction industry. There have been over 25 construction ministers since 2001.
A timeline of appointments since 2019 is set out below, most recent first.
- Chris McDonald MP was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Industry) in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on 11 September 2025, taking over from Sarah Jones. This role under DBT includes responsibilities for construction, materials, chemical and plastics, steel and advanced manufacturing, responsibilities under DESNZ include: Clean Energy Jobs, green jobs and skills, energy sector supply chains, energy infrastructure investments, industrial decarbonisation energy bills.
- Following the 2025 election, Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon West, was appointed Construction Minister.
- In April 2024, Alan Mak was appointed as construction minister.
- On 21 November 2022, it was announced that Nusrat Ghani MP, who was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Industry and Investment Security) in September 2022, would have responsibilities that include construction. She was previously minister for transport. On 7 February 2023, Kemi Badenoch was appointed as secretary of state at the newly-created Department for Business and Trade, but Nusrat Ghani retained the role of construction minister.
- Following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as prime minister, Jackie Doyle-Price was no longer the construction minister, but no replacement was immediately appointed. However, in November 2022, Lee Rowley MP was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Local Government and Building Safety).
- In September 2022, Jackie Doyle-Price MP was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with responsibilities including construction. She has been MP for Thurrock since May 2010, and from 2010 to 2014 she served on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. She was Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor of London from 2000-2005.
- On 11 July 2022, a BEIS bulletin confirmed Lord Callanan (parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since February 2020) would take temporary responsibility for construction. He was previously Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union. He was educated at Newcastle Polytechnic where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in electrical and electronic engineering.
- On 17 September 2021, Lee Rowley was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Minister for Industry), with responsibilities including infrastructure and construction. He resigned on 6 July 2022.
- In January 2020, just a month after the appointment of Kwasi Kwarteng, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, became the latest construction minister. She was previously Secretary of State for International Development, and was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth) at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 January 2021. She is a chartered accountant by trade.
- In December 2020, Kwasi Kwarteng, MP for Spelthorne and Minister of State (Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth) took over from Nadhim Zahawi. He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union. Nadhim Zahawi was put in charge of the UK's covid-19 vaccination roll out.
- On 26 July 2019, MP for Stratford-on-Avon, Nadhim Zahawi, took over the role, with the official title Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education.
- On 5 April 2019, MP for Pendle, Andrew Stephenson was made minister responsible for construction, having previously been a government whip. He took over from Richard Harrington who resigned in protest at the government’s handling of Brexit.
See also: Housing minister.
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