The results have been tallied, MSPs sworn in, and Scotland has now seen the shape of its new government. It’s now time to ask: what does this new parliament and government mean for housing, skills, retrofit and the wider built environment over the next term?

The SNP remains in government. The broad direction of travel on housing delivery, net zero and public investment in infrastructure therefore looks unlikely to change dramatically. Imperatively, the SNP’s fifth term will mean the party’s proposals for More Homes Scotland are moving ahead.

As we’ve set out before, CIOB is strongly supportive of the new housing agency. For those of us who have argued Scotland needs a more strategic, coordinated approach to housing delivery, More Homes Scotland creates a genuine opportunity. The challenge now is ensuring the agency becomes more than simply another administrative layer within an already complicated system.

Scotland does not only need more homes. We need a clearer delivery system around them. Without stronger strategic oversight and better coordination across government portfolios, there is a risk that we continue treating symptoms rather than causes.

That is why the structure of the new Cabinet matters.

One of the more notable developments for the sector is that housing no longer sits as a stand-alone Cabinet portfolio. Instead, it now falls within the Social Justice and Housing brief under Shirley-Anne Somerville.

There is, of course, a clear and important relationship between housing and social justice. Housing outcomes fundamentally shape health, poverty, wellbeing and inequality across Scotland.

But housing is also an economic issue. It is an infrastructure issue. It is a labour market issue. It is a climate issue.

The risk within a combined portfolio structure is not necessarily that housing becomes less important, but that its wider economic and industrial significance becomes less visible within government decision-making.

At the same time, the slimmer Cabinet structure may create opportunities for more cross-portfolio working, particularly given the close relationship between housing delivery, climate policy, skills planning and economic development. Whether that translates into genuinely joined-up policymaking remains to be seen, but the need for it has not diminished.

The climate agenda will also continue to shape much of the sector’s work over this parliamentary term.

With Gillian Martin taking on Climate Action and Rural Affairs, alongside the continuation of major housing and retrofit ambitions, the construction sector will remain central to Scotland’s net zero journey. That reality brings both opportunity and pressure.

We cannot seriously discuss decarbonisation without discussing the built environment. Equally, we cannot deliver retrofit, housing growth or infrastructure ambitions without confronting the long-standing skills shortages facing the sector.

In that regard, there may be some grounds for cautious optimism in the appointment of Ben Macpherson as Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education.

Mr Macpherson previously held the skills brief and is already familiar with many of the workforce challenges affecting construction. Over the past year, CIOB in Scotland has consistently raised concerns around skills shortages, routes into the industry and the need for a more coordinated workforce strategy. That work will continue, particularly as the demands being placed upon the sector continue to expand.

Similarly, with the Scottish Greens sending a record number of MSPs to Holyrood, CIOB will be actively working to advance the party’s manifesto commitments regarding a demolition levy, based on the proposals originally set out in CIOB’s ‘Levelling the playing field’ report.

The construction sector does not lack ideas, expertise, or willingness to engage. What it has often lacked is a sufficiently coordinated policy and regulatory system capable of bringing together housing, planning, infrastructure, skills and climate policy in a meaningful way.

Over the next parliamentary term, CIOB in Scotland will continue engaging constructively with ministers, officials and industry partners to push for the kind of long-term, joined-up thinking that Scotland’s built environment increasingly requires.

Ultimately, the success of this government’s ambitions on housing, net zero and economic growth will depend heavily on whether the construction sector is properly enabled to deliver them.

The election may now be over, but the hard part starts here.