The impact of the Next Generation Board
“As part of the board,” said Nick, “We’re setting up a Young Persons Forum and we’re trying to include as many young professionals as possible – predominately from our industry but not necessarily. I think there are many cross-sector best practices that we can speak about and pass between different industries and companies, for the benefit of everyone involved. We are the next generation, the people that are going to be running these companies in 10, 15, 20 years’ time and it’s important to share ideas now to support your peers development, and the development of our industries as a whole.”
Lewis added: “The Next Generation Board will be crucial for us branching out to a wider net of people and understanding how they work and they’re trying to achieve – we can bridge the gap between consultants and contractors and make it a smoother process so there’s not as many clashes and we can all have a clear idea of our common goal.”
As the roundtable approached its conclusion, our panel reflected on what one change they would like to see in the construction industry as a result of their generation’s impact.
“I’d like to see a reduction in waste on site,” said Tom. “On every single job you see a line of skips – as modular and offsite construction become more common, it will be great to see that change.”
Danielle and Jordan shared Tom’s sentiments, with Danielle wanting modular to become the norm: “If I’m building a residential building or a warehouse, whatever it is, I think it should be standard to go down the prefab route. However, I think that might be difficult to achieve in ten years.”
“My last project for a previous employer was a large residential scheme and the way it was delivered was really impressive,” added Jordan. “The use of modular will bring more efficiencies across the industry.”
Nick commented that his hope for the future is that safety would remain paramount: “The industry does an excellent job at the moment ensuring all new recruits understand that safety is the number one priority on any site. However, it’s vital complacency never creeps in and we all work together to ensure constant improvement.
“My own view from a design management perspective is that BIM needs to be more integrated into every aspect of construction, and that links into everyone’s points so far,” said Lewis. “From sustainability to the prefab angle, BIM can bring it all together and streamline a lot of processes – that’s what I’d like to see more of in ten years’ time.”
The further use of digital construction and BIM was also a priority for James Layton: “We can massively improve on how we deploy BIM at the moment. Clients don’t really push for it currently, but I think they would if they appreciated more the extra value they can get from the building during its whole life cycle in terms of reduced maintenance costs and other benefits. I hope there will be greater awareness of its capabilities in the future.”
For his own hope for the future, Joe returned to sustainability: “From my perspective, there’s probably only a few clients that look at whole life cycle costing exercises – if this was more common in ten years’ time it would really improve sustainability outputs.”
“I think in ten years’ time social value will be a much bigger concern that it even is now,” said James Speck. “We’ve touched on the importance of work with schools and communities, but I think we need to see even more of that over the next decade.”