Leadership organisation Construction Scotland said the forum will enable the Scottish Government to deliver its economic infrastructure and built environment aims, while also supporting the construction industry to achieve the goals set out in the Construction Scotland Industry Strategy for 2019-2022.

Ken Gillespie, chair of Construction Scotland, said: “Construction contributes over £21 billion annually to Scotland. It also an important driver of the wider economy due to the impact construction investment has on other sectors.

“As a result I am very pleased that a strategic leadership forum has been formed between Construction Scotland and the Scottish Government to put a focus on this key economic driver. We have already had very productive discussions on key issues like improving the quality of building and infrastructure and how to improve procurement. We anticipate valuable discussions in future that make a real difference to the sector and the impact it makes.”

Cabinet secretary for finance, economy and fair work, Derek Mackay, said: “The Scottish Government is driving forward a National Infrastructure Mission and steadily increasing Scotland’s annual infrastructure investment until it is £1.5bn higher by the end of the next Parliament than in 2019-20. We estimate that this will mean around £7bn of extra infrastructure investment by the end of the next Parliament.

“To meet our ambitious infrastructure plans we will rely on a successful construction industry. We look forward to working collectively to form a refreshed and stronger relationship between the industry and government.”