Bishop & Taylor trawl through The Construction Index 2025 rankings of the Top 100 construction contractors. And they hit upon the solution to the industry’s recruitment problems.

From Roskill to Arora, Bishop & Taylor discuss Heathrow expansion and alternatives of the past. They also wonder why Mace sold its most protitable operations. And they review some of the latest goings-on overseas, including the Strait of Messina Bridge.

After their regular review of recent headlines, Bishop & Taylor are joined by Suzannah Nichol, Chief Executive of Build UK, to look back on the first 10 years of the industry’s biggest representative body.

Bishop & Taylor discuss EDF’s decision to rein in its exposure to the Sizewell C nuclear plant, reorganisation of the Building Safety Regulator and the imminent soaring hike in landfill tax.

It’s all big infrastructure in this episode, with Bishop & Taylor discussing a new 10-Year Plan, revelations of how badly awry HS2 has gone, and cartel busters from the Competition & Markets Authority being given a stab at management consultancy to tell us how to do civil engineering better.

Bishop & Taylor discuss the UK government’s big push on nuclear power, the forthcoming requirement for new homes to have solar panels and Extract, the new AI tool for local planning departments

Bishop & Taylor approve of a significant Supreme Court victory for Barratt Developments and take opposing views on the government’s plan to prevent land banking. They also discuss a report from a group of MPs calling for a licensing scheme for individuals and companies engaged in domestic energy efficiency retrofits.

Bishop & Taylor discuss the difference between cheating and gaming the system, how to tackle bribery and corruption in the construction industry, and (completely unrelated) the Reform Party’s construction connections

Bishop & Taylor have been learning that concrete is far from the carbon-bad-guy that it is popularly portrayed as. They also discuss the Nature Levy, known by some as Licence to Kill. And they wonder whether aerogels are set for take-off in insulation.

In this episode stonemason Pierre Bidaud of The Stone Collective promotes the benefits of natural stone as a structural building material.  Also, Bishop & Taylor discuss the crisis at British Steel (and whether it matters) and marvel at coffee-infused cement.