21st Century Construction

The UK government recently committed to a £14.2bn investment to build the Sizewell C nuclear power station, ending years of delay and uncertainty over the project.

• ·What role will Sizewell C play in the UK’s future energy mix?
• Is enough being done to improve efficiency, safety, and environmental stewardship across the project?
• Does the construction industry have the skills for a nuclear renaissance?
• What emerging technologies in the nuclear sector should construction professionals be aware of?

If you would like a transcript of the episode, please email

[email protected]

Morris & Spottiswood boss Jon Dunwell joins the 21CC podcast to discuss the workforce issues impacting the contractor and the wider fit-out sector in the aftermath of ISG’s collapse.

While many firms in the supply chain were left reeling after ISG went into administration last September, Morris & Spottiswood saw an opportunity to offer a lifeline to the people and projects operating in its remit.

Within a matter of months, the company had saved more than 100 jobs by absorbing ISG’s retail team.

The latest episode of the 21CC podcast explores the fallout from the collapse and delves into the challenges and opportunities facing Morris & Spottiswood during a period of ambitious expansion.

The discussion also addresses:

• The big skills challenges across the fit-out and M&E market
• How contractors can survive – and even thrive – despite significant industry uncertainty

If you would like a transcript of the episode, please email [email protected]

The built environment can have a significant impact on mental health and wellbeing, for better or worse.

Factors such as quality of housing and infrastructure, as well as access to green spaces and design choices, can influence both physical and psychological health.

So, how can construction professionals create buildings with positive psychological effects that help people live happier and healthier lives?

In March’s episode of the 21CC podcast, three experts from engineering consultancy Buro Happold convene to answer this question and explore the existing guidelines and standards that support the design and construction of ‘healthy’ buildings.  

The speakers are:

• Ben Channon, head of inclusive environments, who is an author, speaker and mental wellbeing advocate, as well as the co-founder of the Architects’ Mental Wellbeing Forum;
• Jean Hewitt, inclusive environments technical lead, who is a member of the BSI Committee for ‘Design of an Accessible and Inclusive Environment’, and the technical author of PAS 6463, which is the first building design standard produced by a national standards body that addresses neurodiversity needs;
• Madeleine Granland, inclusive design consultant, who specialises in neurodiversity design.

This engaging discussion highlights the value of thoughtful design and construction, and includes two case study examples of inclusive design in action. 

If you would like a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected]

Artificial intelligence (AI) can speed up many processes in construction, from design and scheduling to contract and risk management, but it won’t lead to any across-the-board productivity gains as long as the industry’s fragmented business model remains the default.

“Reformation, not transformation” was a consensus view in our reality-check panel discussion with four people on the front line of integrating AI into construction:

• Nasrine Tomasi, engineer and head of AI at Mott MacDonald;
• Guy Beaumont, director and digital leader at Turner & Townsend;
• Nils Rauer, head of intellectual property for construction law firm, Pinsent Masons;
• Graham Robinson, global business consultant, Pinsent Masons.

They spoke candidly about what they’re doing now with AI for their companies and clients, what they’re working toward in the coming year or two, and what risks they see emerging.

The discussion will interest anyone working out how to take advantage of this fast-developing technology for their construction business.

Have your say by filling out the 2025 Global Built Environment Survey organised by Bentley Systems, Mott MacDonald, and Turner & Townsend, which focuses on the impact of AI on the built environment.

This month, we’re checking in to see how the industry’s doing on race equality.

The stats vary, but most counts show that people of colour are still vastly under-represented in the industry, compared to the overall population mix.

The disparity is even starker in the UK’s many cities.

For a sector struggling to fill vacancies, this seems like a big missed opportunity. For a candid assessment, we asked Dr. Roni Savage to convene a panel.

Roni is black, female, and the founder and CEO of geotechnical engineering company, Jomas Associates.

Joining her are Harvey Francis, Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President at Skanska UK, and TJ Jacobs, technical director for social value at Arcadis.

The conversation is fast-paced and passionate, so hold onto your seats.

Nearly 300 construction professionals completed the survey during the last two weeks of November.

It probed happiness levels in construction, the causes of happiness or unhappiness, and attitudes about the topic.

The people you work with emerged as the most prominent source of happiness at work (53% of respondents said this), followed by the satisfaction of delivering a project (49.8%).

Salary and benefits was ranked third (35.2%).

Older construction professionals are twice as likely to say they’re happy than younger ones, the survey showed.

More than 52% of respondents aged 51 and over said they’d been happy at work in the past 12 months, while only 25% of 40-and-unders said the same.

You can examine the full results below.

To the podcast...

In darkest December, we wanted to talk about happiness, specifically, happiness at work.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, it should help you enjoy the brightest time of the year but, for those of us in the Northern bit, we need a pick-me-up in the darkest time.

Specifically, we’re interested in happiness at work. To find out how people were feeling, we did a survey to create the first Construction Happiness Barometer.

The results are interesting. You can see them below.

We’ve also assembled an excellent panel to discuss what you told us, and lots else, like what it means to be happy, whether we should even try to be happy at work, and what companies might be able to do to help that along.

Joining us are:

• Dave Stitt, who has 48 years of experience in construction, with the last 25 years as a leadership team coach. He is a chartered civil engineer, chartered builder and professional certified coach, as well as being an author and content creator. His books include Coach for Results and Deep and Deliberate Delegation.

• Tessa Wright is a professor of employment relations in the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary University of London, with a research specialism in equality and diversity, particularly in male-dominated sectors.

• Charles Tincknell is director of business solutions at Fortem, and and an explorer of creativity.

• Paul Hargreaves is founder and CEO of two businesses – Cotswold Fayre and Flourish. Paul is also an author, speaker and podcaster. His books include Forces for Good and The Fourth Bottom Line.

Happiness Barometer Survey Results:

Nearly 300 people responded to the survey.

Demographic highlights

· Nearly two-thirds were over 50.

· Nearly half work for contractors, housebuilders and specialist contractors.

· Nearly half work for a business with 100 staff or less. More than a third work for a business with more than 500 staff.

· The overwhelming majority (82.64%) identify as men. The remainder were mostly women. One person identified as non-binary, while three self-described.

The overall findings:

· Three-quarters actively pursue happiness.

· 13.3% are really not happy at work (scoring 1-3 on the happiness scale.)

· 30.3% are fair to middling (4-6 on the scale)

· 47.2% are very happy (7-9 on the scale)

· 9.2% are positively over the moon at work (10 on the scale)

· Nearly half have often been happy at work, but a fifth have rarely or never been happy at work in the past 12 months.

· The people you work with is the source of greatest joy at work (53%), followed by the satisfaction of delivering a project (49.8%). Salary and benefits was ranked third (35.2%).

· Stress and fatigue are the most significant contributors to unhappiness at work (56.3%), followed organisational resistance to change (37.5%) and management (30.4%).

· Two-thirds sometimes or often feel excited at work.

Gender

· While men and women are equally likely to have been excited at work in the past year, noticeably fewer women than men were often excited (26.3% v 46.6%).

· Slightly more women than men cite personal growth/challenge as a source of happiness at work (36.8% v 28.6%).

· While stress is similar for both men and women as an unhappiness factor, more women than men cite organisational resistance to change and management.

· Women feel less excitement at work: 68% of men sometimes or often feel excited at work, compared to 53% of women.

Age

· Those 51 and over are more likely to be excited at work than those aged 40 and lower (80% v 63.5%).

· Those 51 and over are less likely to be stressed at work than those aged 40 and lower (48.4% v 69.9%).

· Those 51 and over are more likely to have been happy at work in the past 12 months than those aged 40 and lower (52.5% v 25%).

We know that the linear way we build now – where materials make a one-way trip from the earth to landfill – is dangerously unsustainable.

It assumes too many infinites: Infinite raw materials; infinite space for waste; and infinite capacity of the biosphere to absorb the greenhouse gases that the one-way trip produces.

But what can we do?

This month we explore the possibility of a so-called “circular” construction industry, one where high-value inputs are not thrown away but instead are repurposed for new structures.

We speak to the authors of a seminal report from Cornell University on how one of the world’s biggest economies, the State of New York, could jump off the “Conveyor Belt of Doom” by going circular with construction.

We meet the team behind two landmark office-tower refurbishments that made material re-use a central goal in Brussels, a city that now requires developers to embrace “urban mining”.

And we hear from a structural engineer involved in the redevelopment of London’s Elephant & Castle, which used 96 tonnes of steel from existing buildings there, preventing around 125 tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere and showing that even partial steps can have big impacts.

We may not be at the tipping point where circularity becomes business as usual yet, but it’s possible now to see what such a tipping point might look like.

Links

Cornell University report: Constructing a Circular

Economy in New York State: Deconstruction and Building Material Reuse. Download here.

Happiness Barometer: Help us gauge happiness and attitudes to it for the next 21CC episode by filling out this short survey.

By now, many people in construction are used to thinking about cutting CO2 emissions.

But the industry’s impact on nature – the planet’s and our life-support system – has been largely overlooked.

That is until this year when, in February, it became mandatory for developers in England to deliver a “biodiversity net gain”, or BNG, of 10% on sites that are half a hectare or more in size.

In this episode, we explore the practicalities and business implications of this new requirement to protect and enhance nature, asking, can construction really be nature’s friend?

On hand to guide us is our experienced panel:

• Stephanie Wray, consultant and former Chief Sustainability Officer for RSK Group;

• Julia Baker, Head of Nature Services at Mott MacDonald;

• Helen Nyul, Group Head of Biodiversity at Barratt Homes.