The Building Podcast with Mark Wakeford
Mark Wakeford is Chairman of the National Federation of Builders, Strategy Director of the Global Solar Council and Chair of the West Midlands Solar Taskforce. 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
118 episodes
Mark talks to Dr Olga Kozlova - Oxford University
The rate of change that businesses face continues to increase. Whether this is due to technology from iphone to AI, Covid-19 and the rise of the mental health challenge, wars in Europe and the Middle East, or climate change. Each is...
Mark talks to Kamil Kluza - Climate X
Climate change is creating risks for construction clients around the world. What do we build? How do we make it resilient? Where do we build and what are the long-term risks from climate change that I need to take into account...
Mark talks to Rakesh Maharaj - Global Solar Council
The Global Solar Council is the worldwide trade body for the solar sector. It exists to promote solar and battery storage around the world and it has members in every continent that include regional trade bodies, individual corporates and...
Mark talks to Simon Berry - Anchor
When responsible for 56,000 dwellings that are almost exclusively for vulnerable people towards the end of their lives, security and maintenance of building assets becomes a vital service. Your customers depend upon an effective and affor...
Mark talks to Susan Rose - Susan Rose China
We think that construction is a challenging sector to work within. English China pottery is another level of complexity again, with only a handful of businesses left in place in their cultural homeland of Stoke on Trent. Susan Rose ...
Mark talks to Sebastian Leape - NatCap
The United Kingdom is the most nature depleted county within Europe. Businesses are beginning to realise that there is a symbiotic relationship with nature at a local and national scale and their success is linked to the success of nature...
Mark talks to Laura Miranda Perez - Oxford PV
The key element of a solar array is the solar panel, which is responsible for capturing the sun’s rays and converting them into useable electricity. These panels are relatively inexpensive, but they are technically very advanced, using co...
Mark talks to Baroness Sue Campbell
Baroness Sue Campbell of Loughborough has changed sport in the UK. She has driven change in the school sport through her tenure of the Youth Sports Trust, delivered the most successful Olympic and Paralympic results in London at the 2012 ...
Mark talks to Tracey Elliott - Eden Sustainable Power
The solar sector is a relatively new sector that is still creating the infrastructure to ensure the competence of its staff. Tracey Elliott, a Director of Eden Sustainable Power, chairs the Skills Group of the industry trade body Solar En...
Mark talks to Jackie Copley - CPRE
Solar has some big installation targets to achieve over the coming years. In a country that has limited space (land) and a growing population with many competing ideas on what this limited space should allow, solar farms were always going...
Mark talks to James Garner - Gleeds
The fourth industrial revolution is in full swing as the Age of Intelligence affects our lives in so many ways. The construction industry is working hard to come to terms with the forecast changes and the uncertainty that swirls around th...
Mark talks to Renée Preston - Gallaway Construction
Construction sites and those who work in the sector have both changed a great deal over the last thirty years, but the industry still struggles to attract women to fill the much-needed roles, both on site and in the office. The industry f...
Mark talks to Richard Brannigan and Robin Smith - The Bletchley Group
Insurance is one of those ubiquitous items that every organisation in the construction industry has and which every client is ultimately funding. There are only two mandatory covers that are required by law. The first is employee co...
Mark talks to Dr Victoria Hills - CIOB
Dr. Victoria Hills has held high profile roles in a wide variety of differing sectors and organisations. She left being the CEO at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) at the end of last year to take up the top job as CEO of the Chart...
Mark talks to James Fellowes & Chance Bleu-Montgomery - The Bridge of Hope
Construction is a people business and it is people who build for people. The industry needs around 250,000 new recruits by 2030 just to stand still and before any of the large programmes that politicians would love to implement. Bus...
Mark talks to Chris Denyer - Aspire Bidding
Procurement is a common theme running through all companies involved in the construction sector. Everyone has to win work one way or the other and whilst the procurement process will vary from client to client, the objectives are broadly ...
Mark talks to Andrew Moore - UKSol
The global solar sector purchases around 90% of its solar panels from China. In the UK the figure is about the same. Thes panels are mass produced to a high quality and certain manufacturers have worked hard to remove any trace of s...
Mark talks to Alistair Lomax - The ARC Group
Construction productivity has been static within the UK market for over 20 years (so we are told) and our clients are facing rapidly changing priorities with climate change and skills shortages within their supply chains. The solution is ...
Mark talks to Colin Marrs - Construction News
The construction press fulfils a crucial role informing and setting the agenda for change. It relies on providing a service that its readers are prepared to pay for, which should be accurate, unambiguous and timely information on the key ...
Mark talk to Dr Susan Izadkhasti - Engineered Life by Design
Directors dictate the culture and the direction of their company. This requires directors to lead their businesses through an appropriate strategy and to manage the day to day with effective processes and communications. Directors a...
Mark talks to Liz Male - LMC
The UK’s largest industry is home to a large number of people who want to make the industry a better place; improving the outcome for customers, supporting employees or making businesses more resilient in times of great change. The Constr...
Mark talks to Krystle Drover - KPMG
The UK construction industry plays only a small part global terms, yet our language, legal pedigree and financial stability mean that we can be compared to the worldwide industry. Krystle Drover is an Associate Director of KPMG’s Major Pr...
Mark talks to Joe Bennett - RCA Regeneration
Planning Permission is the starting point for virtually all new build and many large refurbishment projects. Unlocking a permission can be long, tortuous and expensive, but it is the only mechanism to let other stakeholders influence what...
Mark talks to Professor Aled Jones - Global Sustainability Institute
The priorities that have guided construction for centuries are changing. Not only do we have to meet our clients' needs of today, but those needs are likely to change over the life of the building, and our designs and construction need to...
Mark talks to Marion Baeli - Sustainability Transformation
The retro-fit market for domestic homes in the UK is enormous. We have some of the oldest housing stock in Europe that accounts for 20% of national carbon emissions. There are 27 million homes, the vast majority of which will requir...