Insights & Reports

Productivity Engine: Foreword from Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy

A society’s productivity, the key to its prosperity and living standards, reflects the outcome of decisions taken over many years or even decades. Britain’s flatlining productivity today reflects the disappearance of this long-term perspective.

The quiet hum of a highly productive economy

It’s 2040. The UK is directly feeling the benefits of its 2030s quantum innovation and is now running a highly productive economy. You can feel and almost hear a constant, powerful hum. It’s the soundtrack to a new era of British innovation and prosperity: the hum of quantum technology.

One size (doesn’t) fit all by Mark Woodrow COO, Packaged Living

The UK economy, and social mobility of British people, are held back by the lack of availability of an appropriate range of housing options, according to new research from the free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Innovating in construction: A work in progress

The UK construction industry has a productivity problem. Construction output per hour worked is lower than in manufacturing, financial and business services, and utilities.

Government needs to shift the narrative from housing numbers to delivery to secure a sustainable future for the nation

Addressing the housing crisis requires a portfolio of solutions, from the renewal of our towns and cities, to the creation of new settlements that can provide genuinely affordable homes in healthy communities.

Planning Reform and Productivity

Two quotes, half a century and a continent apart, explain why housebuilding has declined to 145,000 per year, less than half of the Government’s objective of 300,000 p.a.

Saying Yes to more housing and higher productivity

As productivity lags, wages can’t keep up with rents and mortgages; so, for far too many, a home of their own now seems out of reach. We simply haven’t built enough of them, undermining our young people’s potential for a prosperous future.

Bridging the Gap: why do we need to think beyond traditional R&D labs?

The creation of any ready-to-use product from Research & Development (R&D) needs to consider the ‘five Ps’ of Good Manufacturing Process (GMP): 1. a clear Product, 2. skilled People, 3. clear Processes, 4. correct Procedures, and 5. clean, safe and appropriate Premises.

Quantum leap: harnessing the power of proximity

Oxford Technology Park (OTP) prime location next to the University of Oxford’s Begbroke Science Park positions it to drive innovation.

How East West Rail will boost the UK’s productivity

The Oxford to Cambridge region is home to the most productive life sciences cluster in Europe, with 300 companies contributing £2.9 billion to the UK economy, creating jobs and attracting investment for the whole country.

The role of forestry and timber in a modern, green society

The UK has a productivity problem. One overlooked solution lies in the forestry sector. A strategic approach to increasing our domestic timber production and use could not only help decarbonize the construction sector but also provide a significant productivity boost to the UK.

The Productivity Engine

In Bidwells’ latest groundbreaking report, The Productivity Engine, we uncover the fundamental role that space plays in understanding - and solving - the UK’s productivity problems.