Build & Thrive

In this episode of Build & Thrive, host Jennie Armstrong is joined by Sam Downie, Managing Director of Mates in Mind, to explore how the construction industry's approach to mental health has developed over the past decade and what needs to happen next.

Although significant progress has been made in raising awareness and reducing stigma, many people working in construction continue to experience poor mental health. Jennie and Sam discuss why greater emphasis is needed on prevention, addressing the working conditions and organisational decisions that contribute to mental health risks.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Mates in Mind has helped change conversations around mental health in construction over the past decade.
• Why mental health awareness must lead to practical action that prevents harm.
• The pressures facing smaller contractors, including long working hours, financial uncertainty and challenging payment terms.
• How the Construction Leadership Council's Joint Code of Practice (JCOP) can help organisations identify and manage psychosocial risks.
• The role of clients and principal contractors in supporting better working practices throughout their supply chains.
• Mates in Mind's upcoming 10th anniversary and its ambitious A Thousand Lost Lives campaign, recognising construction workers lost to suicide and seeking to improve prevention.

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Sam Downie:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-downie-3280a275/

Mates in Mind:

• Website: https://www.matesinmind.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MatesinMind/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matesinmind/
• X: https://twitter.com/MatesInMind
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mates-in-mind/

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

Psychosocial risk is firmly on the construction agenda. The question now is what organisations actually do about it.

In this episode of Build & Thrive, Jennie Armstrong and Stuart Mace look at what they are seeing through recent work with construction organisations, particularly those beginning to assess how well their current approach aligns with ISO 45003 and the Construction Leadership Council Mental Health Joint Code of Practice.

Stuart shares some of the recurring themes emerging from psychosocial risk gap analyses, including good intentions that are not always joined up across the business, an over-reliance on reactive support and the continuing tendency to place responsibility for managing pressure on the individual.

The conversation also explores why employee voice matters. Policies and management systems can tell you what should be happening, but understanding how work is actually experienced means speaking directly to the people doing it.

What we cover

• What a psychosocial risk gap analysis looks like in practice
• Why HR, health and safety, wellbeing and leadership need to work together
• The difference between supporting someone once they are struggling and preventing harmful conditions in the first place
• Why stress risk assessment needs to lead to action
• How to make the language of psychosocial risk meaningful to the workforce
• Why listening to employees is only useful if organisations are prepared to act on what they hear

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/

Stuart Mace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartmace/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

In this episode of Build and Thrive, host Stuart Mace is joined by Kate Field, Global Head of Human and Social Sustainability at BSI, for a practical conversation about psychosocial risk, work-related stress and what the future of health and safety management could look like.

Kate brings deep experience in health and safety, psychosocial risk and standards. She talks about her early career as an HSE inspector, why she became interested in how organisations value people, and why work-related stress has become her chosen specialist subject.

A key theme in the episode is simple: health means health.

Stuart and Kate discuss why psychosocial risks should be managed with the same level of discipline as physical risks, and why organisations need to move beyond awareness, training and reactive support alone. The conversation looks at what businesses may need to do in practice, including identifying psychosocial hazards, assessing risk, using evidence, talking to people and taking action.

The episode also covers the wider future of work, including younger workers’ expectations, the role of wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, climate-related health risks, occupational health, sickness absence, return to work, AI, technology and change management.

What we cover:

• Why Kate Field’s specialist subject would be work-related stress and psychosocial risk
• What BSI does and why standards matter for business
• The difference between ISO 45001 and ISO 45003
• Why ISO 45001 is being reviewed and updated
• Why psychosocial risk is expected to become more explicit in health and safety management
• Why AI and technology need to be treated as change management issues
• How ISO 45003 can help organisations prepare for ISO 45001 changes
• Menopause action plans, inclusive PPE and workplace suicide prevention

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Stuart Mace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartmace/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Kate Field:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katefieldbt/

BSI:

• Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bsi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BritishStandardsInstitution
• X: https://twitter.com/intent/follow?source=followbutton&variant=1.0&screen_name=bsi_uk
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bsi
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BritishStandardsInstitution

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

In this episode of Build and Thrive, host Jennie Armstrong welcomes back the podcast’s first returning guest, Chris Rodgers, for a powerful and honest conversation about mental health, construction and what he learned from running 500 miles across the UK in 2025.

Chris reflects on the challenge he undertook to raise awareness of mental health in construction, running a half marathon every week for 36 weeks while wearing construction PPE and carrying a flag. The challenge raised around £13,000 for Mates in Mind, but as Chris explains, the real impact came through the conversations it created.

Jennie and Chris discuss the gaps that remain, from low mental health education and stigma to the way support is often treated as a bolt-on within workplaces. They also explore the pressure on day-rate workers, the limits of relying on charities and the need for more practical, accessible support that reaches people where they already are.

What we cover:

• Why Chris took on a 500-mile challenge for mental health in construction
• What he learned from running across the UK in construction PPE
• Why conversations often happen when people feel someone is safe to approach
• The mental health support gaps Chris saw during the challenge
• Chris’s reflections on grief, suicide and the impact on families
• Why people need to know what they would do if someone close to them needed support
• Chris’s early plans for a new charity focused on accessible support and education

This episode includes discussion of suicide, grief and mental health struggles.

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Chris Rodgers:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-rodgers-a38773154/

VVB Engineering:

• Website: https://vvb-eng.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VVBGroup
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vvb-engineering/

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

In this episode of Build and Thrive, host Jennie Armstrong is joined by co-host Stuart Mace for a timely conversation about the Construction Leadership Council’s Joint Code of Practice on Mental Health.

The Joint Code of Practice has been described by Stuart as “letting the genie out of the bottle” because it puts into public view what many in construction already know. Poor mental health in the industry is not just an individual issue. It is also linked to the way work is planned, procured, managed and delivered.

Jennie and Stuart discuss why the code matters, what it says about psychosocial risk management, and why prevention needs to become part of the construction health and safety conversation. They also reflect on recent feedback from the Construction Health and Wellbeing network and a supply chain event, where awareness of the code varied significantly.

This is a practical conversation about moving beyond awareness and starting to evidence action.

What we cover

• What the Construction Leadership Council Joint Code of Practice is
• Why the code matters for mental health in construction
• The five hazard clusters identified in the document
• Why psychosocial risk should be treated like physical risk
• How ISO 45001, ISO 45003 and the code may connect
• Why case studies, shared learning and evidence will matter
• How future generations may change expectations of work

The code may not be legislation, but it is likely to shape expectations across the industry. The question now is not just who knows about it, but who is ready to act on it.

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

Joint Code of Practice: https://www.constructionleadershipcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/CLC-Mental-Health-Code-of-Practice-V1.pdf

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/

Stuart Mace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartmace/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

In this episode of Build and Thrive, host Stuart Mace is joined by Paul McGregor, founder and CEO of Everymind at Work, for a conversation about mental health first aid, peer support and what organisations need to do once awareness has been raised.

Paul explains why many businesses, including those in construction, have trained large numbers of mental health first aiders but still lack the structure, data and support needed to make those networks safe and effective.

The conversation explores the difference between mental health training in society and mental health first aid as a workplace role. Stuart and Paul discuss the foreseeable risks faced by mental health first aiders, the importance of duty of care, and why supporters themselves need proper guidance, debriefing and ongoing development.

For construction, this episode is especially relevant. It asks what comes after awareness, why “more” is not always better, and how organisations can move towards quality, visibility and accountability in their mental health support.

What we cover:

• Why mental health first aiders need support too
• The difference between awareness and capability
• Why workplace peer support needs structure
• How data can help organisations understand what is really happening
• The risks of unsupported mental health first aid networks
• Why work-related issues are showing up in mental health conversations
• The role of HR, health and safety, and occupational health

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Stuart Mace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartmace/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Paul McGregor:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmcgregorcom/

Everymind at Work:

• Website: https://everymindatwork.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/everymindatwork/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everymindatwork/
• X: https://twitter.com/everymindatwork
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/everymindatwork/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm2D3TwiJAadtG_2X1BZwDw

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

In this episode of Build and Thrive, host Stuart Mace is joined by Anwen Cooper, co-founder and Mission Director at Thrivall, for a conversation about leadership, resilience and what workplace wellbeing needs to become if it is going to make a real difference.

Anwen shares the thinking behind Thrivall’s work with leaders, including how proactive support, counselling-informed coaching and sustained development can help people build mental fitness before crisis hits. The conversation also explores why construction is showing growing interest in this type of approach, particularly as the industry looks to attract future talent, retain good people and respond more seriously to the mental health challenges facing its workforce.

Anwen also talks about her own commitment to “walking the walk”, including her cycling challenge across the south of England to visit B Corp businesses and reach Anthropy at the Eden Project. For her, the ride was about resilience, active travel, sustainable business and embodying the values she encourages other leaders to live by.

What we cover

• Why Thrivall is attracting interest from construction and other people-focused businesses.
• How proactive counselling-informed coaching can support leaders before crisis point.
• The role of the Keep Britain Working review and the Vanguard programme.
• Why future-focused businesses need to invest in the people who will shape their organisation over the next 10 to 15 years.
• How personal resilience, leadership and values connect in Anwen’s B Corp cycling challenge.

If you are interested in workplace wellbeing, leadership development, mental fitness, construction culture or the future of work, this episode is well worth listening to or watching in full.

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Plan, Do, Check, Act - Assess your systematic approach to Psychosocial Hazard Management with 12 quick questions:  https://psychsafety.scoreapp.com

Episode Links:

Stuart Mace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartmace/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Anwen Cooper:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwencooper/

Thrivall:

• Website: https://www.Thrivall.co.uk/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Thrivall/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thrivall160

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

What does it take to turn psychological health from a wellbeing initiative into a business-wide operating framework?

In this episode of Build and Thrive, Stuart Mace is joined by Natalie Harvey, Health Specialist at Balfour Beatty, to explore the organisation's journey to achieving and embedding ISO 45003 - the world's first international standard for managing psychosocial risks in the workplace.

Natalie shares how Balfour Beatty approached ISO 45003 not as a compliance exercise or badge of honour, but as an opportunity to create consistency across hundreds of projects, thousands of employees, and countless teams working in different environments across the UK.

Together, they discuss what psychosocial risk really means in construction, why language matters, and how organisations can move beyond reactive wellbeing initiatives to proactively identify and manage the factors that influence psychological health.

Key topics include:

• ISO 45003 and managing psychosocial risk in construction
• Creating consistency across large and complex organisations
• Embedding wellbeing into project planning and mobilisation
• Leadership's role in psychological health and safety
• Moving beyond awareness campaigns towards prevention
• Practical lessons from implementing a global wellbeing standard
• Why meaningful conversations matter on every construction site

Listen now and discover how psychological health can become part of everyday project delivery.

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Episode Links:

Stuart Mace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartmace/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Natalie Harvey:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-harvey-34bb6368/

Balfour Beatty:

• Website: https://www.balfourbeatty.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/balfourbeatty
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balfourbeatty
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/balfour-beatty-plc/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BalfourBeattyPlc
• X: https://twitter.com/balfourbeatty

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

In this episode of Build and Thrive, Jennie Armstrong is joined by Rob Cheeseman, Head of Health at Balfour Beatty, for a practical conversation about what health, hygiene and wellbeing look like inside one of the UK’s largest construction organisations.

Rob shares his journey from sport, rehabilitation and occupational health into construction, and explains how Balfour Beatty is working to make health risk management more integrated, consistent and tangible across the business. From occupational hygiene and health exposure reporting to flexible working, ISO 45003 and workplace wellbeing, this episode explores how the industry can move from good intentions to practical delivery.

What we cover:

• Why health in construction needs to be treated with the same confidence as safety.
• How Balfour Beatty integrates health, hygiene and wellbeing under one approach.
• Why wellbeing needs to be made simple, tangible and deliverable on site.
• The “create, manage, support” model Balfour Beatty uses to explain workplace wellbeing.
• The importance of reporting health exposure incidents and learning from them.
• Balfour Beatty’s ISO 45003 journey and what it taught them about consistency.
• Why flexible working, better industry standards and shared learning could shape the future of construction health.

Rob also reflects on the need for the industry to be braver, more collaborative and more consistent in how it manages health. His message is clear: construction already knows how to manage risk, but it needs to stop treating health as something separate, specialist or too difficult to tackle.

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Plan, Do, Check, Act - Assess your systematic approach to Psychosocial Hazard Management with 12 quick questions:  https://psychsafety.scoreapp.com

Episode Links:

Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/

Rob Cheeseman:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-cheeseman-1a915a79/

Balfour Beatty:

• Website: https://www.balfourbeatty.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/balfourbeatty
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balfourbeatty
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/balfour-beatty-plc/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BalfourBeattyPlc
• X: https://twitter.com/balfourbeatty

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]

What does it really take to create a wellbeing culture that works across thousands of workers, hundreds of projects, and an extensive supply chain?

In this episode of Build and Thrive, host Jennie Armstrong sits down with Davy Daly to explore how GRAHAM Group is transforming wellbeing across its workforce and why the industry needs to move beyond reactive support towards proactive, personalised wellbeing strategies.

Drawing on his own lived experience from a military career and recovery from complex PTSD, Davy shares how that journey shaped his passion for wellbeing leadership and helped drive the development of GRAHAM’s award-winning wellbeing approach.

The conversation explores:

• How the “Renew You” programme delivers personalised wellbeing support across construction projects
• Why engagement, follow-up and flexibility are critical for successful wellbeing programmes
• The importance of leadership buy-in and embedding wellbeing from project mobilisation onwards
• Supporting line managers to create psychologically safe workplaces
• Why the construction industry still needs to do more around mental health and suicide prevention
• Using data, dashboards and live insights to shape wellbeing campaigns and interventions
• The growing role of technology, digital wellbeing tools and AI in workforce wellbeing
• Why supporting the supply chain is essential for meaningful industry-wide change

Listen now and follow Build and Thrive for more conversations focused on improving the health, wellbeing and happiness of the construction industry

🎧 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2431164 (or search your podcast app)

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B 

🔹 Thank you to our sponsor, GKR Scaffolding, for supporting this series and helping us share our mission of improving health and wellbeing in construction.

Plan, Do, Check, Act - Assess your systematic approach to Psychosocial Hazard Management with 12 quick questions:  https://psychsafety.scoreapp.com

Episode Links:

Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/

Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/ 

Davy Daly:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-davy-daly-aa8278156/

GRAHAM Group:

• Website: https://www.graham.co.uk/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GRAHAMGroupUK/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grahamgroup_uk/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/graham-group-uk/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu0IdUuVUSipbtroCb29aSA
• X: https://x.com/GRAHAMGroupUK

GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/ 

Are you investing in a healthier and happier workforce? Want a free 30 minute strategy call to ensure you're on the right path. 

Email [email protected]