By combining construction-specific communication expertise, strong industry leadership, and a clear vision of the future, we can tackle structural issues in ‘the industry currently known as construction’ that perpetuate its poor image. This post was stimulated by two things – a discussion about construction-specific communication skills, and a conversation about the need for strong leadership …
Tag Archive: construction
Apr 22 2016
To change the “image of construction,” first change construction
We need to tackle some of the fundamental issues in the UK construction industry before we can effectively change “the image of construction”. “The image of construction” has featured heavily this week for me. On Tuesday, I attended a CIMCIG-led roundtable discussion in London with Mark Farmer, the consultant helping the Government’s Construction Leadership Council …
Feb 19 2016
Passing a Wikipedia milestone
Sometime earlier this month, I passed a Wikipedia milestone of sorts: I submitted my 20,000th edit. I started editing the English Wikipedia 12 years, four months and 16 days ago (there is a handy counter on my user page that tells me this). As I noted on my 10th anniversary, my first edit was a …
Nov 20 2015
The (sexist) “image of construction”
Rumblings of Twitter discontent quickly surfaced last night from the 10th Construction Computing Awards (hashtag: #Hammers2015) in London. I was at a different event (the IBP Journalism awards), but I had half an eye on what was happening across the city, and early signs of negativity were quickly apparent. Su Butcher has detailed the events. …
Oct 06 2015
Time for TICKAC to change
The industry currently known as construction needs to do more than incremental tinkering with technology or scoping out skills. Big, joined-up thinking is required. Watching recent developments regarding UK construction skills shortages and “the image of construction“, I fear the sector’s typically conservative and incremental approaches will do little to bring about much-needed major change. …
Sep 22 2015
“The image of construction” (again)
For my friend Leonie Thomas, I recently wrote a guest blog focusing, yet again, on “The image of construction”. My starting point was the the merger of the UK Contractors Group and the National Specialist Contractors Council to form Build UK, which launched on 1 September with a five-point action plan for the UK construction …
Aug 20 2015
Desperate – and false – PR?
“I know, let’s invite some construction industry people and have a round-table discussion. We could use the conversation as the foundation for a white paper…. We could share the outputs with influential bloggers, issue a news release ….” Similar conversations probably happen more than most PR agencies or in-house teams would like to admit (I’ve …
Aug 19 2015
When your people are not your greatest assets
Using offensive language may affect people’s view of your industry sector, but if you’re wearing clothing bearing your employer’s name, it can also damage the reputation of the company. It has become something of a cliche: “our people are our greatest assets“. This and similar phrases are used by many UK construction industry businesses, sometimes …
Jul 08 2015
Be authentic, not automated, on Twitter
A UK consulting engineering firm has a fatally flawed Twitter strategy: tweeting 246 times a day but engaging with hardly anyone. Regular twitter followers will know that I tweet prodigiously from some construction industry events. Yesterday was no exception. Between two other events, I tweeted from an education and skills event (Alison Watson’s #5050London; see …
Jul 06 2015
CIPR taking more active role in construction
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations is to take a more active role in the UK construction industry, having joined the Construction Industry Council (CIC) as an associate member. The CIC represents professional bodies, research organisations and specialist business associations in the construction industry in the UK. The CIPR will be represented at CIC meetings …
