Plenty to ponder

Funny old year. At the tail end of 2019, if someone had asked the question “what is zoom?”, the answer would have probably been “a car or motorbike speeding down the street”. In the space of 12 months, the word has become a noun and a much-valued one at that.

Thankfully – and with much fanfare in recent weeks – it seems that we will enter 2021 with ‘vaccine’ being one of the words of the new year. The logistics of inoculating billions of people worldwide is another matter but at least there is hope ahead.

This column has pondered before about the looming question – to what type of ‘normal’ will we, eventually, return? Certainly not business life as we knew it and that is borne out by a couple of recent surveys on the impact of 2020 events on industry.

The first lockdown and its aftermath necessitated a lot of corporate introspection, focusing on operational procedures and processes to make sites Covid-secure and business practice ever more efficient.

An autumn survey of 100 construction companies across the UK conducted by the MHA Association of accountancy firms reveals that the biggest concern, shared by 61% of respondents, is economic uncertainty.

Supply chain disruption also ranked high on the list of worries, mentioned by 45% of respondents. Almost a third (32%) said business activity was now back to normal, or nearly back to normal, while 30% believe it will take over a year to return to pre- pandemic levels.

While such surveys often centre on larger firms, one should assume that these sentiments are similar, if not worse, for SMEs.

A second study, conducted by OnePoll for Feel Good Contacts, surveyed 2000 UK workers and highlights issues related to communications. Interestingly, despite almost six months of Zoom meetings, one-sixth of engineering and manufacturing employees are still uncomfortable with being on a video call. Another sixth of such employees don’t want to talk on the phone and would rather send an e-mail. Faced with the second lockdown, a total of 40% of engineering and manufacturing professionals are working in fear, scared of making a mistake at work.

Playing catch-up with supply chain matters and a real focus for industry to keep project timescales on track are two matters ahead. Clearly, employee mental and physical wellbeing should be another. Plenty to ponder then as we head towards 2021 and the very small light at the end of the tunnel.

Awards

As ever, the final Concrete of 2020 is given over to The Concrete Society Awards. If circumstances meant a more muted, simpler winners’ announcement this year, the entrants nonetheless showcased continuing excellence in the use of concrete. If you still haven’t seen the video revealing the winners, head over to www.concrete-awards.org.uk.

Congratulations to all shortlisted entries; you can read about these projects in the following pages. A special mention to the 2020 Outright Winner – The Marshall Building – and all involved with the project.

Taken From Concrete December 2020 www.concrete.org.uk / https://bit.ly/2cjmEiM