In partnership with their members LMC, Constructing Excellence are carrying out research into perceptions about construction.

However, unlike most research which focuses on what those outside of the industry think, we are turning it on its head – we want to hear from those working within construction.

What do you love? What do you want to change? What’s the best route into a fantastic career in construction? These are just some of the issues they’d love to explore with you.

The research will support the implementation of the Constructing Excellence Behavioural Framework. This will highlight the behaviours that we want to see from individuals, organisations and institutions as we move forward as a sector.

They will be carrying this research out in partnership with the PR and communications experts at Liz Male Consulting (LMC), with the ambition to create a report that focuses on how we should present ourselves as an industry that is ready to build and retain the right skills and talent we need for the future.

For every response received, LMC will make a donation to the Construction Youth Trust, so please jump on this link and give your views right now. It will take just 10 minutes of your time.

CLICK HERE to view and download

The multi-billion pound opportunity for the construction sector in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin is the focus for a major event for contractors and the supply chain next month.

Project Pipeline, being held on March 22 in Shrewsbury, is expected to attract companies operating across the industry spectrum – from housing developers to sub-contractors and civil engineers to main contractors.

Hosted by Shropshire Constructing Excellence, the Constructing Excellence Midlands Shropshire club, the event at Theatre Severn will hear about opportunities to be involved in a range of projects, such as the regeneration of Shrewsbury’s Riverside area and the flagship Station Quarter development in Telford.

Mark Barrow, chair of Shropshire Constructing Excellence and executive director of place at Shropshire Council, said: “This is an exciting time for the construction industry across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, and we want our local businesses to get their share of the contracts that will be available over the next decade.

“Sometimes, just knowing what’s in the pipeline and when we expect the opportunities to become live, can be the key to getting involved in these major infrastructure projects. We also want to make sure that Shropshire and Telford companies are aware of construction projects being delivered currently and how they and their supply chain can benefit.

“There will also be a chance to network with other construction professionals, meet other organisations which can support construction sector companies to grow, and pick up information on business growth, training and skills.”

Amy Bould, managing director of Be Bold Media and committee member of SCE, is hosting the event which will hear keynotes from both councils about infrastructure projects which aim to develop the economy and prosperity of the region.

Harpreet Rayet, of Cornovii Developments, will give an overview on STAR Housing’s successful retrofit project near Oswestry, sustainability plans and SAP calculations, and Matt Laws from event sponsor Shrewsbury Colleges Group will give a brief update on the latest funded skills and training opportunities available to employers.

Andrew Carpenter, from Constructing Excellence Midlands, will also explain how the organisation works together with SCE for the benefit of construction businesses, and the event will wrap up with a networking lunch.

The Project Pipeline event is aimed at any business involved in construction (main contractors/sub-contractors), residential and commercial property development, retrofit, supply chain, built environment and masterplanning, low carbon and sustainability, construction skills and training, civil engineering and infrastructure, building and facilities management, material and building design and sector support specialists.

Telford is the fastest-growing town in the West Midlands, and the Station Quarter is just one of the major infrastructure projects planned for the next decade. Made up of commercial, residential and education space – including a new campus for Harper Adams University – there is plenty of scope for businesses to get involved.

Shropshire Council has bid for a share of the government’s £4.8 billion Levelling Up fund to support three major schemes – the clearance of the Riverside area of Shrewsbury, a new roundabout and railway bridge on the A49 at Craven Arms, and town centre improvements and a new skate park for Oswestry.

To register for the Project Pipeline event CLICK HERE

Are you passionate about driving efficiencies in construction projects? If so we really want to hear from you!

ORBIZ are conducting a comprehensive survey on Lean Construction practices, to both understand trends in the sector and how lean as a concept is generally viewed, it covers key areas such as:

A. General Lean Construction Questions
B. Planning & Last Planner Principles
C. Structured Problem Solving
D. Performance Measurement
E. Layered Audits

Your insights across these critical domains are crucial to shaping the future of the industry!

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a rising star in the field, your perspective matters. Help us gather valuable data by sharing your experiences and expertise through this survey.

It only takes a few minutes to complete, but the value of your input could be felt industry-wide. Let’s work together to drive innovation and improvement in construction projects and how they are both controlled and managed!

Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute to the advancement of Lean Construction practices. Click the link below to take the survey now!

https://lnkd.in/emjjrNpi

This month Martyn Jones focuses on just one of the key drivers of change we will see this year – the Building Safety Act (BSA) – and muses on its impact and whether we’ve been here before.

Let’s face it, we’ve had a stream of initiatives over many years aimed at transforming our industry and, either explicitly or implicitly, exhorting us to change our culture and behaviours. There are far too many such initiatives and reports to list all of them here, but most notably they include the Simon Report way back in the 1940s, and more recently the Latham, Egan, and Farmer reports in the 1990s and 2000s.

We are once again being exhorted to embrace fundamental reform but this time in atonement for past mistakes, brought into stark light by the Grenfell tragedy, and in response to the passing of ensuing legislation, the BSA. Its key provisions came into force on 1 October 2023 and this year we will see the new rules for duty holders fully take effect, making it what many people are saying is the biggest change in building safety for a generation.

Under the BSA we now have a Building Safety Regulator (BSR), part of the Health & Safety Executive, as the new building control authority for all higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England. Building work cannot start until they approve a building control approval application. They must be satisfied that the design meets the functional requirements of the building regulations.

The Regulator’s three-year strategic plan spans 2023 to 2026 and details a focus on: delivering consistent standards within the building control profession; overseeing improvements across the built environment; regulating planning, design, and construction of new HRBs; and ensuring those responsible for HRBs manage risk.

But beyond regulating HRBs and raising the safety standards of all buildings, they also intend (as attempted with some success by previous reports into the state of our industry and their prescriptions for improvement) to inspire and lead a much-needed change in our culture and behaviours right across the industry and the whole built environment.

The Regulator’s vision is of an industry where everyone is competent and takes responsibility to ensure buildings are of high quality and safe. They will introduce a new approach to building control in England by creating a regulated building control profession that is more accountable to all citizens and will see buildings consistently meeting building standards.

And there’s more. They intend to increase our knowledge of the built environment and will use this to drive improvements and support those working in the built environment to take responsibility for

driving a sustained and meaningful culture change, incentivising continuous improvement and, when necessary, addressing non-compliance.

The case for reform has been well rehearsed in previous improvement initiatives and reports into the state of the industry and repeated in part by the BSR in the foreword to their strategic plan. They identify a sector in need of fundamental reform having “a regulatory system that allowed egregious behaviour to go unchecked; homes clad in combustible materials that should never have been used; building owners failing to take responsibility; and regulators without the power or the capacity to enforce vital standards. These failures put at risk the lives of far too many.”

And this is just the initial phase of the legislation’s implementation. Further changes, including the reform of the building control system, are set to be implemented later this year. For example, on 6 April 2024, approved inspectors will need to apply to register with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to continue working as a Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA).

This date is also a critical month for in-scope buildings whose construction began before 1 October 2023. In cases like these, transitional agreements apply to individual construction projects to be completed under the current procedural rules and the existing approved inspector, provided they meet certain conditions, such as that work must be “sufficiently progressed” before 6 April 2024.

The BSR’s recipe for change is to create an environment where everyone – industry, residents, freeholders, leaseholders and more – is active in their responsibility for ensuring not only the safety, but also the quality of our buildings. Will we miss this opportunity to reform? Déjà vu all over again? Not really as we now have a Regulator whose task is to provide the clarion call for transformation and insist that we change our culture and behaviour.

2024 is well underway, the Christmas break is but a distant memory and the risks of an economic catastrophe appear to be receding. This year however, we also have an election, when we are asked to make bold requests of potential governments who are looking for votes and easy wins within industrial sectors. There are many areas in which any new Government coming into power may wish to act, including skills, technology and specifically the role of AI within society and the growing green movement.

These are all areas that can affect our industry massively and now is the time to approach your MP to provide answers to the challenges ahead, should you wish to influence policies in these areas. Luckily, these subjects are all covered within our active and focused theme groups and if you would like to join these, to be part of the debate on how these changes might affect your work, then I know that you will be most welcome.

These three areas are likely to have a significant impact on our organisations to the end of the decade. Consequently, they are areas that companies ought to be thinking about to understand how they can use them to their advantage. Companies are already getting closer to their local FE colleges to better understand qualifications and the flow of new requits. The Board of CE Midlands is also looking to see if we can find sponsors for our adopt a school campaign, given the importance of recruitment to our sector.

AI is becoming prevalent in many of our activities, from generative design to chatbots on our websites and help centres. The green movement continues to gather momentum. We can see the large accountancy companies preparing for full carbon accounting, where companies must account for the carbon into and out of our businesses. This is akin to our annual accounts, but using carbon instead of money.

Constructing Excellence Midlands continues to be at the forefront of these discussions, supporting and helping companies identify the opportunities amongst all this change. Our theme groups are involved and focused on the big areas of change within construction. G4C, our younger persons group, continues to grow as companies recognise the value in collaboration and understanding across a much broader set of stakeholders, particularly for the generation that must effect these changes and our regional clubs remain active to provide a local source of information and networking.

CE Midlands itself continues to provide fantastic events and we are looking forward to our annual AGM in Birmingham this month. I urge all members to make the most of your membership. The old adage that “the more you put in the more you get out” is never truer in times of change and your club provides a range of thought leadership programmes for staff from across your companies to learn and contribute to.

 

Mark Wakeford

Proud to be vice-Chair of CE Midlands