At the inaugural Talk Construction held in November last year, there was a resounding call for change within the construction industry. David Philp, Head of BIM at Mace Group, commented that ‘it’s all about meaningful change.’
Hayley Miller, Head of Construction for the Cabinet Office spoke of three integral elements vital to achieving the industry targets ‘early contractor involvement, collaboration and transparency’ urging attendees and the industry as a whole to ‘embrace and demand a collaborative culture’.
It is clear that the Chartered Institute of Building’s initiative Talk Construction is just the start of the conversation and that creating a community where the industry can get together with government, major clients and investors to address the biggest issues facing the building industry is vital in creating a culture for change.
Peter Jacobs, President of the CIOB explains plans for the next instalment of Talk Construction: ‘We have been thrilled with the feedback from the launch event in November. With over 450 delegates attending there was a real buzz, but the conversations we have had since with the delegates, speakers and companies involved has been overwhelming in terms of their support for the future.’
‘We will be making a few changes to the event in 2014 in order to facilitate some additional elements. These will create a truly collaborative community of voices to feed into government policy and industry initiatives, which will really make a difference’.
The 2014 Talk Construction event will be held at the same Westminster venue, Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, from 24th to 25th November and will incorporate the following new features:
- A larger exhibition with workshop areas where people can network and participate in free-to-attend exhibitor led seminars focusing on product and software developments that will help to facilitate change and efficiencies in the future of construction
- A series of case study sessions, again free to attend, where contractors and clients will present and discuss different projects looking how challenges were overcome
- More networking opportunities throughout the event, with attendees having the chance to create a bespoke programme of content to suit their personal objectives
- Peter Jacobs will be chairing a newly formed steering group of key industry figures who will be instrumental in moulding the content for the conference and event as a whole, over the coming months.
