The UK’s built environment generates £568bn in gross value added (GVA), making up 24% of the national total, according to a report from think tank New London Architecture (NLA).

The report found that the built environment, which covers architecture, planning, construction and real estate, contributes twice the GVA as the financial services sector and four times as much as the creative industries.

It also supports around one in eight jobs in the UK, with a total workforce of 3.8m people.

The NLA argues that the government should aim to capitalise on the strength of the built environment, calling it a “generator of growth in its own right”.

The NLA proposes bringing together the various fragmented subsectors and occupations within the wider built environment under one cohesive definition, to help it realise its full economic value.

The think tank argues that this could create a ‘big bang’ for the sector, giving it a national economic jump-start similar to the ‘big bang’ of the finance sector in the 1980s.

NLA chief executive Nick McKeogh said: “In the 1980s, the ‘British invisibles’ of banking, finance, insurance, law and accountancy professions came together to define the financial services industry as a single sector, and the government and Bank of England seized the opportunity to get behind this concept and put this burgeoning and world-leading sector at the heart of its economic strategy for growth.

“We believe the opportunity exists for the government to do the same with the built environment sector.”

He called for the sector to also be redefined as a high-growth sector in the government’s Industrial Strategy – “rather than as merely a facilitator of growth in other key sectors”.

McKeogh added: “Policy, taxation, education and skills reform are needed to change the public’s understanding of its true scale and potential to support national prosperity.”

The report highlights the sector’s role in supporting wealth generation and growth in other high-potential sectors. For example, in 2023, London secured £11.2bn in property investment, 61% of it from overseas investors.

NLA director at NLA Catherine Staniland said: “This report has, for the first time, presented a unified assessment of the entire built environment value chain and highlighted its immense potential as a wealth generator.

“This is a starting point. As we call on government to take a fresh look at the role of the built environment in driving economic growth, we also urge people across the industry to collaborate, contribute and be ready to act in concert should we get our ‘big bang’ moment.”

Peter Hogg, partner at sustainable design consultancy Arcadis, backed the report, stating that the sector is more than the sum of its parts.

“Conjoining these things to create a coherent market sector, rather than a series of service-focused offers to enable other sectors, has added enormous value to our organisation and to those of our clients,” he said.