Opinion Piece by Neil Thompson, Programme Director, Construction Innovation Hub 18 June 2021 The case for digital has never been stronger  Information Management can lead to significant benefits for organisations in the built environment and the wider economy – if we act now. The challenges we face as a sector are well

      Opinion Piece by Elaine Lewis, Managing Director, Cadventure  11 June 2021 Finding a solution to bridge skills gaps, could apprenticeships be the answer? With an ever-growing skill shortage among architects, engineers and construction professionals, we are increasingly aware, as an industry, of the need to encourage young people into our arena. But

      Opinion Piece by Ian Rippin, CEO, Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) 04 June 2021 In our recent landmark report – Renewing Britain – MCS provided a comprehensive analysis of the changing landscape of small-scale renewable energy since 2008. What we found is that the landscape for small-scale renewables has changed dramatically over the

      Opinion Piece by Laura Bishop, GSHPA  24 May 2021 Since November 2020 when Boris Johnson announced the much vaunted ‘600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028’, the conversation surrounding the decarbonisation and electrification of heat has increased enormously. There are many benefits of switching to heat pumps including carbon emissions reduction by

      Opinion Piece by Paul Capel, Founding Partner, 540 WORLD 14 May 2021 My ongoing journey from student to policy influencer It is heart-warming to see how Cradle to Cradle® principles and applications have developed since I had my life-changing exposure to them more a decade and a half ago. In 2008/9, while

Opinion Piece by Ron Lang, Impact Director for Value at Construction Innovation Hub 30 April 2021 How do we measure true value Value. It’s a simple word, but what does it really mean? How do we measure true value beyond pounds and pence? Getting to grips with the seemingly innocuous issue of value continues to

Opinion Piece by Dr Merryn Haines-Gadd, University of Exeter 23 April 2021 Self-healing materials – fact or science fiction? A field of interest for over 20 years, self-healing materials are those with the ability to repair themselves when damaged. They can be classified into two types: extrinsic self-healing – whereby healing agents inside micro-capsules or

Opinion Piece by Claire Ackerman, The Concrete Centre 15 April 2021 Futurebuild’s Game Changers campaign has recently inspired me to think back through the key innovations in concrete design that have truly changed the face of the built environment. Concrete is undoubtedly a game changing material.  Throughout history it has helped to support our economy,

Opinion Piece by Martin Hurn Futurebuild 09 April 2021 Revealing the industry’s game changers   The products and technologies that will influence the future of construction Can you imagine living everyday life without your smartphone, central heating, or lightbulbs? We didn’t know how much we needed these products until they were invented — now we can’t

Opinion Piece by Jackie MaginnisChief Executive, MPBA 02 April 2021 Modular Technology and The Golden Thread  In her report ‘Building a Safer Future’, Dame Judith Hackitt highlights the need for a system-based approach with a golden thread of information running through the lifecycle of each project. Here Jackie Maginnis argues the case for modular technology

Opinion Piece by Sue Riddlestone, CEO, Bioregional 26 March 2021 Now is the moment to use our voices and influence policy  The UK Government is actively deliberating how to achieve net zero carbon in the built environment and reverse biodiversity loss as part of a slew of new policies. Those of us in the Futurebuild

Opinion Piece by Ann Marie Aguilar, Senior Vice President, EMEA, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) The new WELL rating is a real boon, originally featured on Property Week 19 March 2021 As we think about the tools required to beat Covid-19, now more than ever our buildings are a critical part of the public health

Opinion Piece by May Winfield, Head of Commercial and LegalBuro Happold Overcoming the Challenges and Obstacles to Successfully Implement Technology, Digitisation and Digitalisation 12 March 2021 The construction industry is undergoing a significant (but rather slow…) transformation as it progresses towards Construction 4.0, with greater digitalisation and more automated production and assembly processes. The last

Opinion Piece by Sarah Mukherjee, CEO, IMEA Sustainable building 05 March 2021 I have been involved in and reporting on environmental policy for more than 20 years now, and perhaps rather depressingly, the main ask, be it carbon credits, green infrastructure or green skills, has stayed the same throughout this time, which is to enable

Opinion Piece by Keith Clarke CBE, Chair, Active Building Centre and Constructionarium Time to stop trying harder and do differently. 26 February 2021 Over many decades the construction sector (defined in the widest term of all those involved in creating our built environment) has had numerous programmes (Latham, Egon, etc) to improve our quality, productivity,

Opinion Piece by The Edge Positioning ourselves for COP26 and beyond – a plan for the built and natural environment 19 February 2021 Discussing Covid 19, Sarah Gilbert, the creator of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, has said, “We had been warned. But again we weren’t ready”. Unfortunately, and over a much longer period, the same is

Opinion Piece by Nick Tune, Digital Director, Atkins The Golden Thread is not just a nice to have, its a must for all projects. 29 January 2021 Most of us will have heard of the phrase Golden Thread due to the Hackett review into the Grenfell Tower disaster, so what is it and why is

Opinion Piece by Ana Ruiton, Consultant, Mott MacDonald Digital Transformation to build back better 22 January 2021 “Building back better” phrase is everywhere right now, from presidential campaigns slogans to pandemic recovery programmes, and we will be hearing it even more in 2021 with the potential of becoming a global motto in the years to

Opinion Piece by Justin Peckham, Head of Sales, UK, Ireland, Baltics, India and PortugalAccsys Group Greenwashing 04 December 2020 You may have heard of the term “greenwashing”. A play on the term “whitewashing”, greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound.

Opinion Piece by Dr Don McLean, Founder & CEO, IES The Three Levels of “How” to Decarbonise 27 November 2020 The Decarbonisation of the Built Environment could be a much more expensive exercise and less effective than it needs to be.  To prevent this, we need to consider the three levels of ‘How’ to decarbonise.

Opinion Piece by Julie Godefroy CIBSE 10-Point plan for a green industrial revolution  20 November 2020 Government have published this week their 10-point plan to a green industrial revolution, which is meant to support the UK’s net zero carbon target as well as creating and supporting up to 250,000 British jobs and “levelling up” the

Opinion Piece by Hadeel Saadoon Estates Digital Services – BIM Manager Augmented Reality, Virtual reality and Mixed Reality technologies in the time of location independent working 13 November 2020 AR ,VR and MR technologies are becoming widespread and are evolving the meaning of visual communication. Every industry will be affected by AR and VR technologies.

Opinion Piece by Grant Findlay, Strategy Director, Sir Robert McAlpine How strategy, data and collaboration can facilitate the path to post-COVID recovery 06 November 2020 When business leaders retrospectively reflect on the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on their respective industries, many are quick to reference the role the pandemic has played in triggering

Opinion Piece by Gillian Charlesworth, Chief Executive Officer, BRE Build back better The phrase Build Back Better has become one of the political rallying cries of 2020 in response to the global pandemic. In America, the US Presidential candidate Joe Biden unveiled the phrase as his campaign slogan in July, around the same time as

Opinion Piece by Allan Simpson, Strategic Growth Manager, Anglian Water Looking after water can help us all The water cycle is an example of a natural circular economy, with used water ultimately being recycled back to the environment and for further use by people and businesses. Yet too often we take the availability of water

Opinion Piece by Julia Park, Head of Housing Research, Levitt Bernstein Finding the right balance  These are, without doubt, extraordinary times. We will need a period of reflection before making long-lasting changes to our way of life, but it is already clear that a re-evaluation of how we live, work and interact with those around