The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) welcomes the announcement today of the Industrial Strategy as this marks the culmination of months of engagement by ACE on behalf of its members. At the heart of the Strategy is the importance of infrastructure and its economic contribution to the future of the UK economy. Yet the way we go about planning, producing and operating our infrastructure network will change in the coming years and our industry must be ready to meet this challenge.

Speaking on this issue, Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE, chief executive of ACE stated: "I am delighted to receive the Industrial Strategy today as this document shows that the government can and does listen to our industry when we approach them with a united voice. ACE, alongside the rest of the construction industry, called for a construction sector deal and we achieved it, we called for infrastructure to be at the heart of the strategy and we achieved it, we said skills will be crucial to delivery of the strategy and the government agreed and, finally, we said artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key to the future and BEIS has followed our lead.

"It is now up to our industry to meet the challenge laid down by the government to improve the training of our staff, to provide more opportunities for people to join our profession, to modernise our business practices and to improve our productivity. All of this will be crucial if we are to have an industry that can compete as a global leader in this century."

ENDS