The Building Podcast
Mark Wakeford is Chairman of the National Federation of Builders, vice-chair at Constructing Excellence Midlands and a Governor at Construction College, Moulton College. He has run a large regional building contractor and now chairs Evoenergy, one of the UK's foremost renewable companies, bringing low carbon solutions to corporate Britain.
Mark talks to leading experts from across the construction sector to discuss issues facing the built environment. He explores various challenges with his guests, who offer solutions, information and ideas that listeners can apply to their own situations, be it in a company, on a project or studying at college.
The Building Podcast aims to provide CPD on the go. Supporting the sector with easily digestible ideas to support a rapidly changing industry!
Episodes
72 episodes
Mark talks to Claire Gardner
The solar sector has two big people challenges to solve if it is to deliver on its opportunity to become a major generator of the UK’s energy mix and support a “Just Transition” to a low carbon, low cost energy grid. The first is the shee...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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44:56
Mark talks to Dave Tattershall
This podcast is a solar podcast, exposing the opportunities and challenges associated with a significant roll-out of solar generation capacity across the UK. One of the key challenges in any rapid expansion of work is to ensure that the s...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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46:49
Mark talks to Kamal Rajput
The solar sector is poised for significant growth to 2030, with a forecast £17Bn add to GDP and a compound annual growth rate in excess of 14%. This will only happen if the supply chain exists to deliver this work.Kamal Rajput lead...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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45:55
Mark talks to Ross Grier
The Solar Taskforce, a joint UK Government and industry collaboration has just published it long awaited Solar Road Map. This charts how the UK will grow solar generation to over 50GW to meet the targets of clean power by 2030 and net-zer...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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50:08
Mark talks to Ben Fawcett
The Solar Taskforce, an industry / Government collaboration has been in existence since May 2023, working with both Governments to see how solar generation can be rapidly deployed to support the de-carbonisation of the electrical grid and the U...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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1:02:37
Mark talks to Simon Richards
Solar energy represents the most accessible form of renewable energy generation available to commercial customers across the UK. It is relatively easy to install, provides economic energy, reduces carbon footprints, improves energy resili...
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Season 1
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Episode 58
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30:51
Mark talks to Ian Rippin
The Solar Taskforce, an industry / Government collaboration has been in existence since May 2023, working with both Governments to see how solar generation can be rapidly deployed to support the de-carbonisation of the electrical grid and the U...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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48:03
Mark talks to Matthew Boulton
The Solar Taskforce, an industry / Government collaboration has been in existence since May 2023, working with both Governments to see how solar generation can be rapidly deployed to support the de-carbonisation of the electrical grid and to su...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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57:36
Mark talks to Lawrence Slade
The Solar Road Map has been published by Government to highlight the opportunities and challenges to install over 50GW of solar PV generation within the UK by 2030. It is the culmination of two years’ work by the Solar Taskforce, which se...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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47:32
Mark talks to Gemma Grimes
The Solar Road Map, that promotes the growth of solar generation to over 50GW by 2030 has been published. It identifies the opportunities for industry and Government to achieve this target and plots the challenges that both parties must o...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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48:58
Mark talks to Liz Cammack
The solar sector can deliver the lowest levelised cost of energy of any form of energy generation to the grid. Government commissioned the Solar Road Map, which is the culmination of the Solar Taskforce’s work, a joint industry and Govern...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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44:28
Mark talks to Tim Warham
The UK Government has recently published the Solar Road Map, which is a guide to all stakeholders in the solar sector and further afield , on how the UK will achieve the solar element of Net-Zero. It looks at the five year opportunities a...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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46:07
Mark talks to Alex Desouza
The Solar Taskforce, an industry / Government collaboration has been in existence since May 2023, working with both Governments to see how solar generation can be rapidly deployed to support the de-carbonisation of the electrical grid and to su...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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1:04:55
Mark talks to Chris Hewett
The Solar Taskforce, an industry / Government collaboration has been in existence since May 2023, working with both Governments to see how solar generation can be rapidly deployed to support the de-carbonisation of the electrical grid and to su...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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45:56
Mark talks to Sonia Dunlop
The Building Podcast is moving into an allied sector to construction for Series Two. The energy sector is crucial to the generation and distribution of energy, which is the lifeblood of homes and industry. The whole market is changi...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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40:51
Mark talks to Ossi Inkilä
Finnish Project Alliancing and Takt ProgrammingThe €1.1 Bn Laakso Hospital Project in Helsinki is Finland’s largest construction project. It is run under an Alliance programme where the two clients, main contractor and other key st...
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Season 1
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Episode 57
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42:38
Mark talks to Louise Lado-Byrnes
Integrated Project InsuranceConstruction can be a tough industry that often pits professional against professional or specialist against contractor against clients. All are defending paper-thin margins, claims on their insurances o...
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Season 1
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Episode 56
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53:21
Mark chats to Billy Boulos and Hannah Penn
Melanoma and non-melanoma cancers are the most prevalent form of cancer in the UK, accounting for nearly one in three cases. The incidence of this cancer is due to double in the UK over the next twenty years. The relevance to our in...
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Season 1
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Episode 55
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49:01
Mark talks to David Frise
The construction industry has hundreds of trade bodies, each representing a slice of the industry and each having to demonstrate value to its members. The Building Engineering Services Association is one of these, but it also acts as the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 54
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46:57
Mark chats to Dave Forde
There are many theories on how to get the best from a team to deliver a project. Most of these start with a focus on forming the right team. What happens on a construction project when the wrong company is appointed and the client i...
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Season 1
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Episode 53
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58:50
Mark talks to Graham Hasting-Evans
FE Colleges and other vocational training establishments are the gatekeepers for the construction industry. They determine the numbers, calibre and quality of new entrants to the sector. They are exposed on one side to the changing ...
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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57:55
Mark talks to Tim Balcon
“The construction industry is a people industry.” It needs people to build projects for people and without these people there would not be any industry. However, these people need to be competent, capable and available in numbers to...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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52:28
Mark chats to Sally-Anne Hayward
Many of the issues that we face in our construction industry have been, or are, experienced in other sectors and we can often find answers by learning from others. Sally-Anne Hayward is an award-winning comedian and author, who has been w...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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40:51
Mark talks to Rico Wojtulewicz
The retro-fit market is a huge opportunity for the construction sector. There are some 26M homes to be retro fitted before 2050, and 15M to be retro-fitted before the end of the decade. This is an opportunity for our industry to sup...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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42:23
Mark talks to James Butcher
The Building Safety Act continues to impact our construction sector as companies and clients further understand their roles in securing the safety of their buildings and the competence of their organisations, their staff and their supply chains...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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52:07