What construction needs to know about Burnham’s No.10 ambitions

With the regularity of one of Manchester’s iconic yellow buses, another No.10 contender arrives. But what will Andy Burnham’s ascent mean for the construction industry? Andy Dunn looks at three areas of the industry that this will affect: housing targets, infrastructure and skills.

“If you don’t give people a good home, what chance have they got of having a good life?’ Andy Burnham asked in a speech last week. “This country finally has to put that at the top of its priority list.”

At the heart of his proposals is the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period – but that is a headline, not reality on the ground.

The reality: Social housing is only one piece in the jigsaw. Barbour ABI revealed that throughout 2025, there was an average of 18,389 applications per month, rising to 19,769 in the second half of the year.

Campaign group Britain Remade calculates that 44,850 planning applications per month would be required to meet the 1.5 million homes target before the next election.

Planning hold ups, higher costs, reduced buyer demand, stronger regulations and a chronic shortage of skilled labour are all factors he must contend with.

Much of Burnham’s talk on infrastructure has been focused on improvements to the North, and he has said he would “revive HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester as Prime Minister”.

Said to be in favour of a slower, cheaper version, funded partly by local taxpayers, he has pointed to London’s Elizabeth line, which was roughly 60% funded by local taxes, as a model.

Another infrastructure biggie is data centres, now classed as Critical National Infrastructure. At the opening of Kao Data’s £350 million Stockport facility, Burnham said it would “reinforce our position as a global leader in AI and data centre capacity”.

So, an advocate - but one who has stayed relatively quiet on environmental concerns such as water consumption, grid demand, carbon footprint, and ecological effects.

One of the huge challenges: Forecasts for the period 2024-28 estimate that an additional 251,500 workers would be needed to meet the current UK construction output.

In 2024, Burnham’s Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) launched the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc). A new framework for technical education, it was designed to provide a clear route into employment for young people and a “genuine and equal” alternative to university.

“No more an education system dominated by the university route, but an education system that offers a path for everybody, academic and technical,” he said.

Could this and other Burnham projects be rolled out nationwide? With apologies to Manchester’s Bee Network, Westminster is abuzz to find out.