Category: Opinion
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From policy to delivery: can construction rise to the 2026 challenge?
The uncertain outlook for the year ahead is fuelling construction’s confidence crisis, writes Nitesh Patel Image: Dreamstime For construction, 2025 was expected to be a big year and it has been pivotal for UK infrastructure, with government commitments setting the stage for transformative change. Planning reforms and the government’s industrial, infrastructure and housing strategies are…
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Quality as the new safety paradigm
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Image: Alfredo Angeles | Dreamstime.com For built environment professionals, safety must be underpinned by quality at every stage of project design and delivery. Over the last few years, our industry has experienced a profound recalibration in how it views safety. From the introduction of the Building Safety Act to the recent appointment of interim chief…
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How Sir Robert McAlpine embedded sustainability at the London Museum
Innovations in the sector are developing at pace, setting new benchmarks for sustainable construction. At Sir Robert McAlpine, our pursuit of this has revealed a clear need for a shake-up in how we approach projects, to encourage supply chain engagement in sustainable solutions as early as possible. View the original article and our Inspiration here
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How Sir Robert McAlpine embedded sustainability at the London Museum
Innovations in the sector are developing at pace, setting new benchmarks for sustainable construction. At Sir Robert McAlpine, our pursuit of this has revealed a clear need for a shake-up in how we approach projects, to encourage supply chain engagement in sustainable solutions as early as possible. View the original article and our Inspiration here
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How McLaughlin & Harvey demonstrates competency under the Building Safety Act
Trade bodies Guidance from industry bodies is starting to emerge, such as the Joint Competency Initiative (envelope) and the Association of Specialist Fire Protection, which have developed standards for assessing individual competencies. However, we need a set of standards for every trade and there is some way to go before this is achieved. Professional bodies…
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Government housing targets are a bitter lemon
Angela Rayner may have dodged a bullet by leaving her housing post, writes Gleeds’ Richard Steer. (Image: Peter Cox via Dreamstime.com) Sometimes when life delivers you lemons, you just need to make lemonade. Not the great wisdom of Cicero or a towering political luminary like Winston Churchill. No, this homespun advice came from Beyoncé after…
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As a trainee cost manager, I’m shocked by construction’s complacency
Although construction has the tools and frameworks to make the industry more collaborative and safer, collective willingness to change is still missing, argues Sabrina Abdullaahi. Image: Kalman89 | Dreamstime.com As a trainee cost manager, I’ve spent the last year exploring how construction projects are shaped by budgets, deadlines and the constant push to deliver more…
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‘Construction cannot cope with requirements of 1.5m new homes target’
A selection of readers’ comments about news and issues in the industry from across the CIOB community and social media. The government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2029. Image: Roger Utting | Dreamstime.com ‘1.5 million homes is completely achievable – but they must be good quality’ Former Mace director Mike Reader…
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Why climate and nature literacy must be the new baseline for construction
As chair of the Construction Industry Council’s (CIC) Climate Change Committee, I have seen how good intentions falter without a shared foundation of knowledge. Architects, engineers, contractors and clients face mounting expectations, from evolving UK sustainability standards to investor-driven ESG requirements. Yet the sector still faces a significant knowledge and skills gap. We are often…
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What can construction take from the party conference season?
CIOB policy chief Eddie Tuttle reflects on the key messages from Labour and the Conservatives during the autumn conferences Sir Keir Starmer. Image: Dreamstime As in previous years, our planning led us to meetings with politicians, stakeholders and organisations where we felt we could have the greatest impact. As members expect, we aim to deploy…