Thread by @joesarling

This is such an important piece in the FT. I remember leading on Brexit / Covid19 impacts and all roads led to SMEs - who have dwindled in number/output since GFC - getting squeezed to breaking point. How do we want this sector to operate? on.ft.com/39PCa8h

"UK construction has 244,000 fewer employees than three years ago due to a loss of EU workers and early retirees." #ukhousing

#COVID19 + #Brexit

Wild. How does one expect SMEs to shoulder this?

It is for these reasons I have always been more interested in building institutions that can improve the whole sector, that don't simply bend in political winds, that make connections across actors to minimise unintended consequences, that partner with & understand local areas.

This is a very important point too. SME firms will target smaller sites and will more frequently work with communities. These firms do not have the same reserves, vertical integration, nor credit opportunities to shoulder this.

https://twitter.com/AlisonWardx/status/1541077120167862274?t=OP3xZuRMjOkhEd22NZ4ouA&s=19

This whole topic opens up many questions:
How do we want the sector to work?
What do people in local communities want?
What does place-making look like?
What does community-powered regeneration look like?
If plurality is important, how do we ensure survival and encourage growth?

Brexit & Covid19 were shocks to the system. And any shock has severe negative consequences before any adjustment.

The key will be to reimagine how we want the future to look in parallel with providing support to allow firms to adjust.

Long term vision; short term support.

Time for a post-#Brexit, post-#Covid19 vision. And a conversation about those hard truths, short-term and long-term trade-offs, and what we need to do to give time for adjustment.

It's in our gift. But inaction will only lead to one outcome.