Key takeaways from 2024 industry events
Over the last few months our team has attended multiple industry events, including The SHE Show and Highways UK, in collaboration with our parent company Infobric, among others. Following this, Director of Strategic Partnerships Dominic Howkins shares his three key takeaways from the events and what’s on the agenda in the construction and infrastructure sectors.
Staying connected
Year after year industry events present us with the opportunity to have valuable face time and share insights with our existing clients, as well as connecting with prospective partners and networking with peers from within the built environment.
The construction industry should be collaborative by nature - it’s a topic often talked about yet rarely executed on the ground. On any site across the UK you will see people come together from different contractors and trades, but communication at all levels of decision making – both on and off site – is key to success. With this in mind, it also makes complete sense that we do the same when having strategic conversations around the direction in which the industry is going. Highways UK felt like the exception to the rule with contractors, consultants and specialists all being keen to connect and find more productive ways of working that promote data driven decision making.
No one person, or company, can make a substantial difference in isolation. There must be buy-in and accountability across the board in order for the industry to evolve. Even small alliances can bring huge benefits and by embracing the need to work together we can create savings in time and money as well as giving greater insights. This is a key area in which MSite supports our clients, giving them access to data across the entire worker journey.
Social value and sustainability
ESG is a topic that is continuing to be highlighted within the built environment, it is a key priority for clients when reviewing tenders and for those leading contractors with a comprehensive ESG strategy it can be a major work winning differentiator. We are seeing more and more companies shift their focus towards sustainable and socially responsible practices and being totally transparent with clients, using data around social value and workforce to demonstrate their positive impact on local communities in which they work.
Naturally this meant that the topic of social value and sustainability was an undercurrent to all the events we’ve attended. Talks from industry experts covered a range of topics from women in construction, driving industry change through social value commitments and a greater collaboration between the social and private sectors to enhance social value delivery.
With social value and sustainability reporting also being brought into question, we found that we were being approached by a range of attendees concerned with ensuring their supply chain and workforce has access to factual information. This can be as simple as who’s on site and when, or how far they travelled and by what mode of transport, but this all allows for more accurate reporting and is exactly what MSite does best.
Innovation
The need for change is a topic that has been discussed at all the events we’ve attended – the industry knows it can’t carry on the way it has been and expect different results. It is refreshing to see that this is leading to more people engaging in conversations about digital transformation.
Labour’s infrastructure policies present a growing need for efficient, compliant, and sustainable workforce management solutions. MSite supports contractors and stakeholders in meeting these demands for increased productivity, aligning with government goals for a more efficient, socially responsible construction sector.
The MSite platform addresses issues present in workforce management, health and safety and site standards among others, and it was great that so many are open to, or even seeking out, solutions such as ours.
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