Building Weekly Digest: 25 November
Building Magazine
The UK's leading magazine for construction professionals featuring the latest industry news, expertise and intelligence.
This week we've covered a lot of ground. We've heard first-hand from Richard Steer at the World Cup in Qatar, reported on a plethora of high-profile people moves, discussed the end of Help-to-Buy and the rise of solar power. On top of this we have also hosted our Net Zero Live conference - which saw five sessions take place over two days. You can explore all this below.
Richard Steer's World Cup diary: Build-up, broadcaster banter and Beckham
The World Cup started this week and it is undoubtedly one of the most controversial ever. In this piece, Richard Steer, chair of?Gleeds?- who has worked in Qatar extensively - blogs about what it's like to be in Doha for the event, meeting David Beckham and the ethical debate about doing business with Qatar. This is just a sneak peek of what he had to say: "Perhaps I am being na?ve but I think it is much better to be influencing the country from within, than to be throwing stones from outside."
People moves
There has been quite a bit of movement on the people front. Kier Group announced it is bringing in Gus Wright, a senior project leader from Laing O’Rourke, to a newly created role of London regional director from January. And while Kier is bringing in Wright - the firm has also announced that construction boss Liam Cummins is leaving the business after three years and will depart by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, Wates Group has appointed former Balfour Beatty national framework director Sarah Cooke as its new regional director for the North-west, as the firm sets its sights on ￡150m of business in the region by 2025. There has also been movement on the consultant front - with Ridge and Partners LLP bringing in former Mace operations director Chris Taylor to head up its defence and security business. At the same time, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has appointed senior Cabinet Office staffer Dr Janet Young as its new director general and secretary.
Why the future for solar power looks bright
With energy prices going through the roof and demand for electricity from data centres and electric vehicles soaring, the case for solar power has never been stronger – and, unlike gas, it cannot be cut off. In this piece Thomas Lane has spoken to Jonathan Roper , principal renewable energy consultant, EvoEnergy , Chris Glover , the utilities director for Buro Happold , and Simon Cox , Prologis UK ’s head of project management, and Alban Leiper , 奥雅纳 ’s lead on the West London Local Area Energy Plan about their views. Definitely worth a read.
Managing wellbeing in your team
In this final article in our mini Coaching Clinic series,?Up Rising's?Phanella Mayall Fine?and?Natalie Hall?have some helpful tips on drawing up a staff wellbeing strategy that is more than just words. They breakdown it down into steps so you can see how you can enable your teams to flourish. They also quote the so-called father of wellbeing Martin Seligman:?“To flourish is to find fulfilment in our lives, accomplishing meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and connecting with others at a deeper level - in essence, living the?‘good life’".?Thanks so much to Phanella and Natalie for all their wise words in this series - a must -read for anyone interested in healthy working environments.
领英推荐
?5 minutes with Chetan Parmar
In this interview with?Chetan Parmar?he talks about his outlook on life and his work at the civil engineering company he co-founded?Parmarbrook. Over a career spanning more than three decades he's worked on the Walkie Talkie with?Rafael Vi?oly Architects, Walmer Yard with Peter Salter and The Passage in Victoria with Buckley Gray Yeoman Architects. And he some great insights and sound advice for those starting out: "If you have the passion to go for it, you should have the opportunity to break the glass ceilings! It is not dependant on gender, race or environment."
Period dignity schemes
Read about the work of social enterprise?Hey Girls?as part of?our Every Person Counts campaign. Daisy Williams?has found construction firms wanting take part in period dignity schemes that seek to improve access to free period products and education. So far she's worked with the likes of?Wates Group,?J. Murphy & Sons Limited?and?Willmott Dixon?and she's encouraging others to support a "buy one, donate one” model, so one box of menstrual products is donated to community partners such as food banks, homeless shelters and women’s refuges.
Help to Buy: It’s the end of an era
The final applications have been submitted and the government’s controversial equity loan scheme in England is due to wind up on 31 March next year, despite the current economic crisis. In this piece, Emily Twinch considers what impact this will have on housebuilders and their delivery of new homes.
Net Zero Live November 2022
This week we held our final conference event of the year - Net Zero Live. The two-days of insight covered a huge range of topics and we'd love to say a huge thanks to all our speakers, as well as our sponsors 阿特金斯 , Aggregate Industries UK and ROCKWOOL Group . If you missed out on the sessions or just want to watch them again - they are all available on-demand via the links below: