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Dr. Victoria Hills has held high profile roles in a wide variety of differing sectors and organisations.  She left being the CEO at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) at the end of last year to take up the top job as CEO of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) at the beginning of 2026.  Catch up with her views as she reflects on eight years supporting planning in the UK, the improvements that she oversaw and the future of planning for both applicants and governments, and her plans at the CIOB.

Victoria talks about the investment that Government has made to the Gateways for High Risk Buildings (HRBs) within the Building Safety Act and the benefits of devolution within the changes being considered to planning at the moment.  She then broadens this out with a bid for people and businesses to be as professional as possible, with competence running through the organisation from the Board Room to the sharp ends on site.  She concludes with a staunch defence of membership bodies like the CIOB, talking about their value and their ownership by their members.

Listen to learn about the direction that the industry is taking and why professionalism is fundamental to your future success.

Dr Victoria Hills MRTPI FICE FRSA MCMI | LinkedIn

CIOB Home Page | CIOB

RTPI | Championing the power of planning

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Construction is a people business and it is people who build for people.  The industry needs around 250,000 new recruits by 2030 just to stand still and before any of the large programmes that politicians would love to implement.  Businesses throughout the supply chain state that they are struggling to recruit enough people with the right skills and these skills are increasingly described as life skills, rather than the specific trade or profession skills.

One challenge that construction faces is that it seeks these people in the same places as other business sectors.  This means that we either have to work harder to attract these people, we have to look elsewhere or we have to do without.  The Bridge of Hope is a Social Enterprise Company that seeks to connect people who have been disadvantaged in some way and who may not be reachable through the usual recruitment channels.  These people, many of whom have overcome significant personal hurdles, bring something that traditional recruits cannot.  They bring a degree of grit and the ability to work to overcome obstacles, learnt through their own life experiences.

Chance Bleu-Montgomery and James Fellowes, who come from opposite ends of the social divide, come together to talk through the opportunities that The Bridge of Hope can provide to both employers seeking to recruit and disadvantaged people throughout communities.  Listen to hear the benefits of recruiting from this pool, of the value of diversity within a team, the higher retention rates and the super powers that are increasingly needed in the modern world.

Listen to find out about the support available to employers and the ease of engagement to find the right fit for your company.

Home - Bridge of Hope - Bridge of Hope

Chance Bleu-Montgomery | LinkedIn

James Fellowes | LinkedIn

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Procurement is a common theme running through all companies involved in the construction sector.  Everyone has to win work one way or the other and whilst the procurement process will vary from client to client, the objectives are broadly similar; to find the right organisation to provide the best quality and the best price.  Done well, a procurement exercise will add value to the project, through risk reduction and introducing certainty.  Done badly, and procurement can saddle a project with the wrong team members appointed on the wrong priorities.

Chris Denyer of Aspire Bidding has advised construction companies for many years on the hows and whys of construction procurement.  He talks to Mark about the trends in procurement and the tricks to ensure that your bid stands out from your competitors through a range of relationships, tools and knowledge.

Listen to this podcast if you would like to understand about construction procurement through pre-qualification questionnaires or bid documents.  Learn that the David against Goliath competitions can be fair, provided that both big and small companies recognise their super-powers and use them effectively.

Chris Denyer | LinkedIn

Aspire Bidding: Overview | LinkedIn

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The global solar sector purchases around 90% of its solar panels from China.  In the UK the figure is about the same.  Thes panels are mass produced to a high quality and certain manufacturers have worked hard to remove any trace of slave labour from their supply chains and provided better traceability of materials within the products.  However, with such a concentration of panels form China, there are strategic risks around control of supply, availability, price and warranties.  The question has been asked many times whether we ought to have a UK manufacturer of solar panels in order to countenance these risks.

Andrew Moore is the founder and sales Director for UKSol, a UK based company that manufactures solar panels abroad, but where all the controls, pricing and guarantees are UK based.  As a UK company, taxes and regulation are to UK standards, making their panels an attractive alternative to Chinese providers.

Listen to this podcast to hear how brand UK is attractive around the world and the unique selling points that a UK based manufacturer uses to sell effectively into fifty countries worldwide.  Andrew talks about the challenges of setting up a UK manufacturing base and the benefits of subcontracting design, innovation and manufacturing to the best organisations around the world to provide panels that he can be proud of.

Andrew Moore | LinkedIn

UKSOL - The British Solar Module Brand | Explore Ethical Solar Solutions

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Construction productivity has been static within the UK market for over 20 years (so we are told) and our clients are facing rapidly changing priorities with climate change and skills shortages within their supply chains.  The solution is to innovate and to continually improve our products, our processes and our people.  This is traditionally achieved through best practice clubs, trade federations and consultants.  Given the pace of change and the requirement to build is resilience for future change, these sources of good ideas are going to be stretched.

Thankfully, universities have upped their game and are now both approachable and competent to support businesses in a far more practical way than a decade ago.  One of the largest groups of universities is the Arc Group, covering all universities from Oxford to Cambridge and offering an unrivalled breadth and depth of expertise for businesses to learn and mobilise.  Alistair Lomax is the Director of the Arc Group.  His role is to promote the opportunity that this cluster provides and the problems that all members of the Arc Group can help resolve.

Listen to Alistair if you would like to understand how to interact and get best value from our universities.  Listen to understand how an effective partnership can be formed and if successful how this can be monetised.  Listen how in times of rapid and significant change, universities can and do step up to the challenge, collaborating with whomever can get the job done.

Alistair Lomax | LinkedIn

arcuniversities.co.uk

Members | Supercluster Board

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The construction press fulfils a crucial role informing and setting the agenda for change.  It relies on providing a service that its readers are prepared to pay for, which should be accurate, unambiguous and timely information on the key issues facing the sector.  Such a service requires a high degree of professionalism, yet all too often we dismiss journalists and their publications as biased or ill-informed.

Colin Marrs is the Editor for one of our oldest industry publications, Construction News.  Colin talks about the processes that his and his team’s work must pass through to ensure quality.  Colin talks about the drive for truth and the structure that enables this at Construction News, with their ability to focus on the complex issues facing the sector.  Colin is passionate about the accuracy of his stories and talks about how news and features are generated.  He also talks about the values of Construction News and the importance of editorial control being in the hands of those who understand the industry and the people who work within it.

Listen to gain confidence in the approach taken to inform our sector and on how to ensure that good news stories reach the wider industry.

(2) Colin Marrs | LinkedIn

Latest UK Construction News, Contracts and Data

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Directors dictate the culture and the direction of their company.  This requires directors to lead their businesses through an appropriate strategy and to manage the day to day with effective processes and communications.  Directors are generally appointed after successes within the business, or through the potential that they bring to the Board.  The question can be whether the skills and behaviours needed can be taught, or whether Directors are born with these attributes.

Dr. Susan Izadkhasti is a qualified coach, who supports main board directors of large companies within a variety of sectors, including construction.  Her experiences demonstrate that behaviours can be taught and that the benefits can be measured.  Susan uses a technique Brain Based Coaching that helps individuals to assess their bandwidth and ability to perform.

Listen to this podcast to hear how a coach might work within a business and the value that they can bring.  Listen to hear the importance of diversity within boards and the challenges that technical or high pressure directors can overcome.

Dr Susan Izadkhasti | LinkedIn

EngineeredLifeBydesign

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The UK’s largest industry is home to a large number of people who want to make the industry a better place; improving the outcome for customers, supporting employees or making businesses more resilient in times of great change.  The Construction sector is also home to a huge number of companies, trade organisations who promote these companies, allied stakeholders and customers and navigating this landscape to achieve this change can be difficult.  Liz Male has been actively communicating and supporting innovative and passionate clients within the sector for 25 years.  She has built a business on successful change, working out the various tribes who can help or hinder her customers.

Listen to this podcast to hear views on industry representation and how leaders need to behave to deliver change.  Listen to hear how trade organisations need to change to offer their services and provide a collaborative community, particularly if they wish to engage with the next generation of industry leaders.

Liz Male MBE | LinkedIn

LMC | Home

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The UK construction industry plays only a small part global terms, yet our language, legal pedigree and financial stability mean that we can be compared to the worldwide industry.  Krystle Drover is an Associate Director of KPMG’s Major Projects Advisory Team and works with public and private organisations, big and small, around the world.  Her aim is to improve project outcomes and she works at the intersection of business processes and project workflows to ensure that governance, data and systems are aligned for the stated outcomes.

Krystle, originally a practising engineer from Canada, now works from London in countries around the world.  Listen to her podcast to find the six key inhibitors to successful businesses and projects that she encounters and the mind set that she promotes to overcome these issues.  Krystle is very much an advocate that traditional ways of working will simply not unlock the innovation required to deliver the massive increases in productivity that our sector has long-craved.

Krystle also explores the differences between highly regulated professions in Canada and the laissez-fair approach to UK registration and CPD.

Krystle Drover, P.Eng, B.Eng | LinkedIn

Major projects advisory | KPMG UK

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Planning Permission is the starting point for virtually all new build and many large refurbishment projects.  Unlocking a permission can be long, tortuous and expensive, but it is the only mechanism to let other stakeholders influence what is built and how it affects their communities, infrastructure and landscape.  Joe Bennett is a Principal Planning Consultant for RCA Regeneration and takes us through the planning process, its pitfalls and its challenges.

Understanding how planning works and the risks that planning imposes on a development is crucial for all involved with a project.  Not only are there a range of hurdles to navigate up to getting a resolution to grant approval, there may be a host of conditions attached to the permission that contractors will adhere to.  Planning is also not a static process, as every political party seeks to stamp their authority on the process, particularly those with challenging ambitions to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

Listen to understand the planning process, the changes that are coming and the ways to mitigate planning risks.

Joe Bennett | LinkedIn

RCA Regeneration