Building safety, hitting net zero targets, and the skills shortage were at the forefront of a major event for the South West’s construction industry.

Constructing Excellence South West (CESW) hosted the CESW Construction Summit at Sandy Park, Exeter, and industry leaders and professionals gathered to discuss how the sector must come together and work collaboratively to tackle the current challenges.

The jam-packed summit included a line-up of speakers who all took centre stage to highlight the existing challenges facing the construction industry and how to tackle them head-on.

Gary Townsend Vila, BSF Charter Strategic Lead, talked about the Building Safety Charter and its commitment to creating safer buildings and safer homes, and how this requires an urgent and positive cultural shift and behaviour change.

While Ian Nicholson, Value Delivery Lead at Construction Innovation Hub, discussed the recently developed Value toolkit designed to help the industry drive better social, environmental and economic outcomes through value-based decision making.

CEO of CESW and board member of CLC Construct Zero, Andrew Carpenter, also revealed the CLC Construct Zero nine priorities and the 28 detailed metrics needed to reach the net zero goals in construction. He commented:

“It was good to see so many people come together to discuss the future of construction. This is such a pivotal time for the industry both regionally and nationally, as there’s many challenges to overcome but equally, huge opportunities to take advantage of.

The sector has a history of being fragmented but now is the time to work collaboratively to tackle the key issues, like building safety and net zero targets, so we can make positive changes for the future.”

CESW leads the change agenda in construction regionally as part of Construction Excellence’s national mission to improve the industry’s performance and produce a better built environment.