The activity, growth and annual spend in sectors that complement our core skill capability are crucial to our future success. We must have good, solid sector knowledge of Government spend to maintain the health of our business. Market Intelligence on future spending in sectors will provide the backbone to business plans for growth within your business. This knowledge will provide you with the confidence of business growth and investment in your business to achieve your forecast for future years. Once you understand which sectors will have the predicted spend you can then develop a business strategy to secure future growth. You can target specific clients and contractors who are a success in those sectors. Build relationships and have supply chain partners to target projects from the predicted pipeline of anticipated projects.

So where do we see growth in 2017? Well, industry leaders suggest the following sectors will be the ones to watch:

Major Highways: SMART Motorways and Major Infrastructure projects throughout England increasing capacity and reducing congestion. The programme is expected until at least 2020 but envisaged to be 2025.

Schools: The announcement of £50m Grammar School investment and with the significant tranche of educational funding of £23b. A pipeline of projects for the coming years, announcements expected in Q2 2017, will provide clarity on procurement routes. We will see Free Schools, Academies and Maintained Schools expanded.

PFI: There are some indicators that a new pipeline of opportunities could present itself in 2017. The MOD, Welsh and Scottish Governments and some specific projects, NHS and Education are also considering private finance schemes.

Green Building: Will 2017 see a step change for a more sustainable built environment? A report on the industrial strategy will be published calling for energy efficiencies. The government has a target to achieve by 2050. Brexit may add more desire to place the UK at the forefront of Global Environment.

Modular Housing: Will modular housing be the biggest change since the war to get houses built in the UK? With skills at a premium, will offsite working be even more critical to meet the demand? BIM could help in moving to a more cost certain future. Will we see a major shift in 2017?

Midlands Engine: HS2 to Birmingham is not too far off and will give Birmingham and the Midlands a huge shift in status and a higher priority on development. Connectivity will be essential to provide and sustain growth in the region with investment from abroad. The Midlands has the largest economic region outside London being the second city of the UK. The potential is huge.

Northern Powerhouse: The chancellor announced £23b over 10 years for infrastructure investment. Investment in Ports, Aviation, Off Shore Wind in Humberside and Merseyside not too mention Wylfa Power Station. These are just a few of the major projects that sit alongside housing and smaller infrastructure projects. The big challenge is skills.

We all need to compile our own intelligence of our sectors to plan our future growth in the coming years. However, the signs look very encouraging if the government stays strong to its word. We should all have a long term sustainable future, but we all have our part to play in being efficient. We must ensure that every penny spent is spent wisely and adds value for future generations.