The Building Podcast with Mark Wakeford

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Construction is the largest industry in the UK and therefore an important industry for Government to understand and nurture.  Government is also the sector’s largest customer and so one that the industry needs to respect as client and rule setter.  Our industry often feels that government does not understand us, or that it fails to set the right environment for the i...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome “The second oldest profession in the world” has lost its mojo over the last fifty years and Architects have lost much of the authority that they used to enjoy.  James Pickard, Co-Founder and Principal at employee-owned Cartwright Pickard, talks to Mark about the changing role of the Architect, the importance of recognising the values that the profession can provide a...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome The construction sector relies on a huge number of qualified and competent operatives, managers and Directors to deliver and maintain the built environment.  Its training board, the CITB, was set up to support construction companies to achieve this aim.  Deborah Madden, Executive Director for Engagement for the CITB, talks to Mark about the organisation, and its role...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Those who work in construction are immensely proud of the value that we deliver to society with both our finished goods, and also through the act of construction.  Now labelled “Social Value”, it is a requirement of procurement that construction activities demonstrate this value in a recordable and recognisable manner.   Mark chats to Sue Woollett,  a Social Value Ma...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome The construction industry attracts a broad range of individuals to work within its broad church.  We have a higher concentration of neurally diverse people within our ranks and yet we still struggle to attract and retain women.  Both these groups of people can provide diversity of thought and organisational resilience, which is crucial when businesses are faced with...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Construction clients start all our projects and define what success looks like.  The traditional triumvirate of time, cost and quality are being redefined by intelligent clients to better reflect demands of their stakeholders, where Environment, Social and Governance issues are relevant.  Large, and often international clients, who are competing on an international s...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Construction is the largest separate industry in the UK and comes with its own team in Government at the Department for Business and Trade.  The team here support the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) to help, inform and change our industry.  One of their key interests is the drive to net-zero, which is crucial in an industry that influences 44% of all UK carbon...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome The image of the construction industry has always provided opportunities for improvement.  We tend to work behind large hoardings and communities only become aware of us when we disturb them or something goes wrong.  The Considerate Constructors Scheme has been working at the sharp end on site for thirty years to improve standards and change our sector’s culture.  Ma...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome The supply chain below main contractor is the essential part of any construction team, responsible for the delivery, the quality and the programme of much of a project.  The success of any project relies on the success of the whole supply chain and tier three contractors and below are struggling.  Listen to Iain McIlwee, CEO of the Finishes & Interior Sector, dis...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Measuring, managing and prioritising carbon within the purchase, design, delivery and operation of both new build and retro-fit has been a challenge that has prevented the adoption of carbon saving designs and delivery of net-zero buildings.  Mina Hasman joins Mark to talk about the recent publication of the “UK Net Zero Building Standard”, which she has helped steer...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Technology is all around us and increasing in relevance and role within Construction.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one limb of IT, but one that appears everywhere and which many see as a powerful disruptor to the sector.  Vassos Chrysostomou, COO of AIFORSITE UK Ltd talks to Mark about what AI is and what he believes the role of the technology is and will be with...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Construction wastes over a fifth of its turnover on wasted work and errors that have to be corrected, according to the Get It Right Initiative, which is a huge amount of customer value.  The initiative is a membership body that supports members and aims to educate the sector on best practice and methods to reduce this waste.  Cliff Smith, Executive Director for GIRI...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Katherine Evans, owner of “Bold as Brass” and winner of the prestigious “Most Influential Woman in Construction” award in September 2024, talks about what it can be like to be a woman on UK construction sites and the need for better understanding the challenges that they face by all.   Katherine expands on the steps that the industry needs to continue to take, to enc...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Construction is a people industry.  It is “people that build for people” and many in the sector have been looking for the best corporate structure to support this mantra.  One such solution is the Employee Ownership Trust, where a trust, owned by all the employees controls more than half the equity of the business.  This puts the employees in charge of their own dest...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome The value and the complexity of construction makes it a sector prone to disputes that can generate conflict.  Add to this time-poor managers and it is little wonder that the industry is known for large scale and costly disputes.  The impact of this culture is to make construction businesses less efficient, less innovative and our staff far more prone to mental health...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Both construction and energy sectors are looking for good people to fill worthy career positions.  Both sectors are competing with other sectors within in the UK jobs market and both sectors can be relatively short sighted in their appointment criteria, focusing on relevant experience.  There are circa 15,000 people leaving the military each year and the vast majorit...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome We all have bank accounts and banks have their sustainability targets too!  Laura Capper is the Head of Manufacturing and Construction for NatWest Group and the ideal person to discuss the bank’s support for their customers and the wider industry to decarbonise their businesses.  With over 50,000 business customers and a loan book in excess of £4Bn to the sector, Lau...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Matthew Teague is the Market Engagement Manager for TATA System Building Products and is heavily involved in improving the sustainability and carbon content of these products.  Matthew discusses the significant improvement in embodied carbon that will be possible with the new electric arc furnaces that TATA are investing in and the design priorities that his team fac...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Structural timber has been a construction product for as long as humans have been building.  As the UK becomes more sustainable so must the construction industry.  Reverting back to timber as a significant solution to our structural challenges is an obvious answer.  Andrew Carpenter is the CEO of the Structural Timber Association and the best person to help the indus...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome The Heritage Market in the UK is responsible for repairing, renovating and keeping our older and historic buildings fit for purpose.  It is worth some £28Bn to the economy and is therefore a vital construction service.  Claire Watson of Bernard Watson Decorators and Chair of the influential Heritage Group talks about the challenges facing the sector, the need to brin...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Michael Parinchy is the Chair of the House Builders Association within The National Federation of Builders.  He works for ProBuild 360, which is an SME home builder, based in the Midlands.  Michael discussed the challenges of delivering homes and his approach to a customer centric service with a vertically integrated business.  The interview covers problems with the...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Mark talks to Richard Cymler, a Regional Director (Midlands) at Sweco and Chair of the Building Safety Group at Construction Excellence Midlands about the Building Safety Act.  The disaster at Grenfell Tower spawned this legislation as the industry was clearly avoiding responsibility for the safety of its buildings.  Richard is the ideal person to describe the legisl...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome David Hughes, Chief Executive officer of the Association of Colleges talks to Mark about the role that further education colleges up and down the country play in construction and energy sectors.  David is passionate about the potential of the FE network, the professionalism of their teaching staff the students that pass through colleges.  The podcast explores the ben...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Project Bank Accounts are ways that construction clients and contractors can decrease insolvency risk, improve collaboration and reduce the need for project bonding.  Mark talks with Jarvey Moss, CEO of Saible, a new business that uses modern technology to solve governance, speed and transparency issues that have previously blighted the roll out of Project Bank Accou...

Send a Text - Feedback Welcome Discussion on the need for culture change within construction to meet client and society's demands for Net Zero.  David is the CEO of NetZero International, an organisation that validates a company's carbon footprint.  David talks about the opportunities for business, the importance of standardisation and the need for transparency to avoid greenwashing.