The CBI has called for chancellor George Osborne to reduce VAT on refurbishment work as part of a £2.2bn package of measures to boost construction in next week’s Budget.
CBI director-general John Cridland told the BBC the plan would address a range of problems: "We need Housing Associations to be freed up going forward to build the affordable housing needed.”
The CBI said the UK economy will grow 0.3 percent in the first quarter of the year, after the economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012 – the first period in what some feared might be another six months of negative growth.
On Monday, another business group – the British Chambers of Commerce – echoed the CBI's call for more investment in housing and infrastructure, and said it was necessary even if it meant further cuts to welfare benefits.
The Budget is on 20 March.
