Thrive In Construction with Darren Evans
'Thrive in Construction' is the only podcast that delves into the personal journeys of sustainability leaders and innovators in the construction industry across the UK. Our show differentiates by offering unscripted, passion-fueled conversations that go beyond the buzzwords to the heart of what's driving the industry forward. It's tailored for aspiring professionals, seasoned experts, and anyone with a keen interest in the sustainable evolution of construction. We're here at a time when the call for sustainable development is not just a trend, but a societal imperative, empowering listeners to build a career that contributes to a greener future.
Thrive In Construction with Darren Evans
Ep. 49 Top Construction Industry Tips from 2024: Podcast Wrap-Up
Join us for part one of our 2024 podcast wrap-up! We’ve compiled the best highlights, advice, and insider tips shared by our incredible guests this year. From navigating the evolving construction industry to game-changing career advice, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.
📢 Got a favourite moment? Share it in the comments below!
So the thing that I've learned from the podcast this year from an experience point of view, is that there are so many people that are out there that just want to do the right thing, but they don't know how to do the right thing, and also there is just this overwhelming number of people that really could be in the construction industry but that are not, and the reason they're not in the construction industry is because they just don't know the great things that are going on and the impact that you can have by being in the construction industry. Here are some highlights from the vast array of topics that we've covered in 2024 particularly in the construction industry.
Nicola Forest:I don't think you need to have a particular background or big. I don't think everyone needs to go to university. If I could go, go back to be 18 now, I would tell myself, particularly within construction, to do an apprenticeship. Okay, you know, I think there's a big, a lot of pressure on young people to, and the apprenticeships are almost a bit frowned upon, um, but there's so much good that can come out of them and you know, on the job, learning and construction is is vital. So my myth is um, education doesn't hold you back or you have to do one route of education. I think if you're passionate and willing to learn, you'll get anywhere that you need to be best way to do the carbon capture.
Barney Shanks:Other people have views on how to do the carbon capture, but some way you've got to take the flue gas, the stuff, the gas that comes off in the kiln. You've got to scrub it, get the co2 out and then do something with it. So some people want to purify it down and pump it underground into deep sea storage or saline aquifers or enhanced oil recovery. And then my personal opinion is that if you've got this essentially now high purity resource not to just pump it underground and do something with it, so it's the. You have carbon capture and storage, which people talk about, and then you've got carbon capture, utilization, slash storage, and that utilization is taking that co2 and not thinking of it as a waste. It's now a raw material again, so you can use that as a secondary material that you can use to turn into other things. So for us, we turn it into bricks or brick alternatives, plasterboard alternatives, things like that, so it goes back into the construction industry.
Nkechi Ashiedu:So there's a nice circular element to that you did that was was it's because of the perception and think that, okay, maybe I'm not competent in my work because I experienced the discrimination in that, or I was passed over for certain kind of work and so forth. My work changed.
Danielle Michalaska:No.
Nkechi Ashiedu:Okay, my work hasn't changed, right? No, you're happy with my work. Yes, okay, that should be the main thing we're here for.
Darren Evans:Is that I'm doing my job correctly, so yeah so you got to the point then where you, where you, found a job two years later you found a role that was through support.
Nkechi Ashiedu:So that was literally on the day that I secured my PhD. I was at the train station what was it? Paddington station, and I got a call through from an agency say, look, we can catch you, there is a job for you.
Andy Matthews:I don't think people really understand what architectural construction is really. I mean, obviously we know we see people, people building stuff. You know, it's not Tom Selleck in Three Minute Little Baby, and so on. People maybe have different cultural references, but I mean, when I was at school you had the red National Record of Achievement book, which everybody's thought would be more important in their life than it actually is.
Andy Matthews:But there's this myth, you know. So when I talk to people I'd say, oh, you know, I really want to be an architect. And they'd say, physics, we have to be really good at those, not use them that much. You know, I was not very good at maths at school, you know, but actually physics I really enjoyed. But what they should have said was architecture is incredibly broad profession and you could do maths, physics, computing, art. You know, you can be a lawyer, you can look at law, contract law, technical. There's so many different parts of the industry that it's just bullshit, you know, and the idea that you need to have maths and physics to do was essentially a classic degree.
Andy Matthews:You know, architecture is a brilliant degree, even if you don't want to study architecture. I think beyond there. But I just think it's gatekeeping at the worst point in time, when you're 15, 16, unsure about what you might want to do, for somebody to say, well, you're not very good at maths or physics, so don't even think about that. And I dread to think the amount of people that have been stopped, stopped by some of those comments, and I hope it doesn't really happen at schools anymore. Who knows, you ever heard that one at all? I?
Darren Evans:have.
Kevin Masters:Yes, yeah, it's bollocks you know, yeah, it's so broad, if you like. So clearly we're. We're in the sort of starting phase of a new government labor have different objectives, different priorities compared to the you know, the previous government. So there's a little bit of time to sort of work through in terms of what that really means in terms of its impact on infrastructure. But clearly there is a sort of changing the landscape of prioritization, where money is going to be channeled, et cetera. So, working again from central government across the department, so to understand, how do they sort of make sure that they've got those priorities sort of match fit? So when they are going through the government scrutiny, as it understandably will do, that they are sort of identifying that business case as clearly as possible. What are the benefits it's going to bring to the taxpayer, to the economy, etc. Such that when there is a decision about where that money has been applied, that those departments are in the best possible position to do so.
Danielle Michalaska:We've got to talk about the big one, haven't we? Low carbon heating, you know we've got the future home standard coming from government in 2025 and the shift towards no gas. You know that's probably the biggest challenge the industry is facing at the moment and everyone's working towards it. And I think something that's really, really interesting is, historically, developers worked in silos. You know there are competitors. That's not worked together. We worked against each other. We are not seeing that there's been a huge cultural shift change in the last eight to ten years and we work together, you know, for the greater good of both the industry, but also to support SMEs. We're a volume developer, so we've got a lot of the resource, the capacity. Small developers don't have that. So the biggest trend we're seeing at the moment is that journey towards zero carbon, but also the low carbon heating.
Scott Tacchi:I think the industry has matured significantly, certainly in my lifetime, and I think it's exponentially matured over the last 10 years. Where the opportunities to male, female, there isn't, the line is now completely blurred. There's no difference in the opportunities afforded. What I don't think we do is we don't talk about the variety of careers that are huge and ever increasing. That's from in terms of the pre-construction and the approach to digitalization through the trades that we still need, but trades that are being undertaken in factory and environments now, rather than having to travel the country. It really is such a diverse exciting for me anyway industry where you can go and be almost whatever you want to be, to whatever particular niche of interest. You have the needs to experiment.
Martin Townsend:If we try it this way, what will happen? It didn't kind of work, that's okay. And actually you know, if you construct your experiments in whatever you're doing in the right way, you can really drive change in a much more way, in a quicker way, I suppose. But that that hunger to say and I remember going back back in my career, we laid the first porous, porous asphalt on a motorway. This is years and years ago really didn't go well, I think it was down just for a few months, but it was. It's yeah, and that didn't work, guys, but it was a really good experiment and I kind of forgot about that. That if you're trying to make change happen, sometimes you have to be courageous and you have to take risks, but actually if you get it right, those risks really do benefit.
Martin Townsend:But you need to control them now to make sure that in the corporate environment you're working, that you're kind of getting people to buy in, to get them to sign up to what change might look like, and is the organisation you're working for the change agent that will make something happen.
Tunde Agoro:I got news that a number of people were going to be made redundant and we had three waves actually and the third wave I was caught in. That I was completely shattered, you know, by that. That really was a catalyst for my growth and development.
Danielle Michalaska:You know.
Tunde Agoro:So sometimes we could see. Sometimes we could see taking a step back, for example, redundancy as rejection not being good enough and all that. But actually it's an opportunity to recalibrate, an opportunity to refire. The quicker you can come round the emotional cycles, accept it, embrace it, take your responsibility and you move forward.
Gaynor Tennant:I think the youngsters coming through are fabulous. They're just superstars in the making because they've not been caught up by. This is how we've done it. They're full of fresh ideas. They're not going to put up with the culture the way it's been. Sustainability means so much to them. Digital means so much to them. They're tech savvy, been you know. Sustainability means so much to them. Digital means so much to them. You know they're tech savvy. They're brilliant. So it's about you know. We've got to nurture those people, and I think we've got to work with the leaders still, but the people in the middle, I think we've got to find different ways to work around them, because we're not going to change those people. With all the best will in the world, it doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to change them. So how can you, you know, put them somewhere nice that they feel comfortable, and then work out different ways to go around them.
Darren Evans:Huge thanks for the people that have supported the Thriving Construction podcast in 2024. This our first year. We've just finished a networking event which has been absolutely fantastically well attended, and also the participation has just been outstanding. But to you, the viewers, and to those people that are listening, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me to raise the voices of the people that are in the construction industry, doing so many great things in the industry, making a difference to the world. I look forward to 2025 and hope that not just your continued support, but also welcoming other people to the Thrive in Construction community.