Skills

You know when you have had a good idea, because you keep coming back to it. A decade ago, the genesis of an idea took hold. As the new chief executive of the Electrical Contractors’ Association, and new to the world of trade associations, one of my initial aims was…

It is well established that companies with diverse leadership teams generate higher returns, and that the construction industry has a long way to go on this front. Margo Cole explores the potential for diversity to boost your business

From Mark Farmer’s 2016 industry review, to the aftermath of the Grenfell fire and the government’s Construction Playbook, modern methods of construction have been put forward as the focus for new ways of building. James Wilmore examines whether the industry is ready to do this and what’s keeping it from…

I feel a mix of amusement and surprise hearing TV and radio debates about decarbonisation of heat, major infrastructure projects, electric vehicles, battery storage, public sector funding. Just a few years ago, who would have thought that on prime-time radio, we’d have 15 minutes of discussion about the detail of…

One question the UK construction industry has been asking in 2021 is, where has the migrant workforce gone and will it ever return? Zak Garner-Purkis sheds light on a murky situation

Last week saw the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the body that advises the government on migration issues, recommend that employers should still be allowed to recruit bricklayers from abroad after 1 January, when the new points-based visa system comes into force. If adopted, this would be a welcome step forward.…

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) expects to make a decision on when to hold the vote on its levy by next spring, according to its chief executive. In June, the organisation delayed the consensus vote it is meant to hold every three years to secure a three-year industry levy…

*Names in this article have been changed to protect the identities of individuals Adam* was confused about why the manager suddenly wanted to ban him from the project. “Is it a site-wide policy?” he asked, thinking there must have been some change to the company’s COVID-19 regulations. “No,” the boss…

The contribution women can make to better decision making was the theme of a Construction News webinar held last week. Staged as part of our Inspiring Women in Construction programme, the webinar assessed the value of diversity of thought at board level and in other senior leadership positions. A panel…

Having barely emerged from the epicentre of what has been the biggest global event of most of our lifetimes, the idea of planning for a different crisis feels, well, slightly bizarre. But having spent most of yesterday afternoon and this morning going through the government’s new immigration policy document, construction…