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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 bring new people in to reinforce the skills and expertise in the market and the role of the Heritage Mark in identifying competence.  Clare explains that as the decorator, she is the most important person on site and her passion for her work, the heritage sector and the people delivering heritage services shines through the conversation as do her aspirations for the biggest heritage specific event in the calendar.

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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 planning system through to the supply chain and skills needed to meet his customers, demands.

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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 benefit that companies of all sizes can expect through working with colleges to support the lecturers and students and how this can address the skills crisis in construction.  David is very optimistic about the potential for Colleges to work with industry bodies, like the NFB, to effect change within Government.  He believes that politicians are aware of the necessity of vocational skills for both industry to function and society to prosper.

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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 legislation that applies to all construction work requiring building control certification.  He talks through the new processes and liabilities that constructors now work within.  The Act is far reaching, and we hear Richard’s aspirations on the improvements that this will facilitate as our construction industry comes to terms with our duties.

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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 Accounts.  The conversation explores the operation, benefits and costs of setting up a modern project bank account.

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A conversation with Dr Wendy Dobson of FTI Consulting where the topic of carbon accounting is reviewed and the needs of the construction sector to make significant progress in measuring, auditing and reducing the embodied carbon in both their companies and their projects.  Coming from an overtly financial perspective, Wendy is able to translate the management of carbon into the profitability of projects and those involved in those projects.

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A conversation with Georgia Elliott-Smith of Fighting Dirty,  on the impending need to reduce the embodied carbon in the construction industry and the ability of clients to influence the outcomes that are important to them through detailed planning.  The talk includes information on positioning the construction companies as those who can help clients reduce their footprint and add value to a project.  Georgia also covers the need for transparency in our actions, as no-one expects everything to go according to plan and no-one can afford to be labelled as “greenwashing” if they wish to retain clients.

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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.

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Nigel Tonks is the Sustainability Development Director for Arup, speaking nationally and internationally, including at COPs on the need and mechanisms to reduce carbon throughout the built environment.  Nigel explores the details that companies need to understand and the services that they must perform if they are to continue to work in mainstream construction as the legislative requirements tighten.  Nigel has an international perspective and comparisons are drawn between other parts of the world, to show that we have ground to make up.