Written by LetsBuild
Last updated October 18, 2023
The NFB Annual Conference 2018 is opening its doors on Monday 26th of November and GenieBelt is extremely proud to be participating in it.
Jason Ruddle, LetsBuild’s UK Managing Director, is going to shed light on digitisation in construction and its impact on small and medium construction companies in the United Kingdom. The event will take place at etc. venues County Hall, Belvedere Road, London.
“Looking forward to participating in next week’s Nation Federation of Builders annual conference at London County Hall.
In house building, you need to keep track of different design schemes, subcontractors, geographical locations, deadlines, and so much more. This generates a huge amount of data every day and it is a time-consuming task to filter information to gain insight into the current state of your construction projects.”, says Jason Ruddle.
And he adds:
“What you need is a micro and macro view of your construction projects. With a deeper understanding of what is going on, you gain control of your projects. You need to be able to get the right information at the right time.”
As far as what the construction industry looks like at the moment is concerned, LetsBuild’s UK Managing Director mentions the following:
In construction, we have technologies that provide real-time communication and audit trail tracking which complement and update the project management processes to keep your information in one central place, to bring order to the magnitude of tasks that are undertaken in the build sequence and to allow you to identify the best optimal work processes for your business.
20% of UK SMEs operate in construction
As reported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), at the start of 2017 small and medium companies represented up to 99% of all firms in the private sector employing up to 16 million people.
According to the same source, 20 percent of all SMEs in the UK are operating in the construction industry. This percentage can be translated to 975,000 small and medium construction companies.
Read also: Homebuilding guide – Gaining control over multiple projects and developments
This powerful number shows the enormous potential of the sector and the substantial contribution of SMEs to the economy. Based on a research conducted by the National Audit Office, spending £1 with a small and medium size company can return a 90p benefit to the local economy, while the return for larger businesses is maximum 40p.
With that in mind, it becomes evident that the conference is an excellent opportunity for sector experts to come together and discuss on the significance of digitising the construction industry and identifying opportunities, as well as the obstacles, for SME regional contractors and builders moving forward.
Construction is complicated but that doesn’t mean that we can’t improve the way we do things. We can learn from past projects and invest that knowledge in setting the standards for future projects. But we need data to do this. And that is what I work for every day.”, concludes Jason Ruddle.
Some practical details about the conference
During the conference, the participants will have the opportunity to attend three different panels:
Digital panel
The main focus of the digital panel will be on what digital could mean for construction and the ways in which regional contractors and SMEs can use it to their benefit. The panel will consist of digital experts and construction business leaders.
Planning panel
The planning panel will provide valuable feedback in the potential for digitalisation in planning and will analyse the areas of opportunity and pain for regional contractors and SME builders.
Procurement panel
Last but certainly not least, the procurement panel will set its attention on enabling better payment solutions across the supply chain. That is a topic of great interest if we take into account the dramatic case of Carillion last year.
Event speakers
Many inspiring industry experts are expected to be present in the event and share their thoughts with the other participants on what digital construction means and how it can be beneficial for SME builders and regional contractors.
Below you can find a detailed list of all the confirmed speakers for the event:
- Jason Ruddle – LetsBuild
- Dr. Jennifer Schooling – Cambridge University
- Sam Stacey – Innovate UK
- Peter Aldous – MP Waveney
- Rudi Klein – SEC Group
- Steve Quartermain – MHVLG
- Andrew Percy – B&CE
- Sarah Beale – CITB
- Robin Knowles – Digital Leaders
- James Pickard – Cartwright Pickard
- Luke Murphy – IPPR
- Monika Slowikowska – Golden Houses Development
- Rico Wojtulewicz – NFB
You can also download the full agenda here.
