Constructing Excellence in the North East has announced its annual Construction Summit will take place at Ramside Hall on 3 November.
The summit supports the industry’s OneVoice campaign, which aims to build a successful, sustainable and inclusive construction industry. It will focus on the OneVoice action plan’s three key themes – people, value and climate, whilst also exploring innovation in North East England.
The OneVoice action plan was recently unveiled by the Construction Industry Council North East (CIC), Constructing Excellence North East (CENE), Construction Alliance NorthEast (CAN) and Generation for Change (G4C), as a rallying call to the region to become a beacon of best practice.
Sponsored by Faithful+Gould, the summit will include an Innovation Exhibition, encouraging companies to feature innovative materials, products and processes which will support the North East England Climate Change Coalition (NEECCo) drive to become England’s greenest region.
As a COP26 Regional Roadshow event to inspire climate action, funding is available on Innovation Exhibition places for start-ups and SMEs with new ideas that support the sustainability and climate emergency agenda within construction.
Speakers include Mark Reynolds, chief executive of Mace and Skills Lead for the Construction Leadership Council, Peter Caplehorn, chief executive of the Construction Products Association and Paul Brannen from CEI-Bois, the European Confederation of Woodworking Industries.
Introducing the key themes will be Leanne Fletcher, regional sustainability manager at Sir Robert McAlpine and OneVoice climate theme lead, Adam Dalby, architect at Faulkner Browns and OneVoice value theme lead and Hollie Statham, design manager at Bowmer+Kirkland, who is leading the OneVoice people theme. Other confirmed speakers include, Nik Turner, executive director of communities and customer service at believe housing, Darush Dodds, corporate affairs director, Esh Group and Elouise Leonard-Cross, head of people strategy and experience, Northumbrian Water.
Catriona Lingwood, chief executive at CENE, said: “The North East England Construction Summit brings together leaders and decision makers from across the construction sector and the supply chain. Together, we explore how the industry can positively impact the climate emergency, deliver exceptional whole life value for clients and create companies which have the happiest, most engaged and productive workforce.
“The Innovation Exhibition is a key attraction at this year’s summit as one of the COP26 Regional Roadshow events. We have a number of companies who will demonstrate as to how the industry can help deliver a low-carbon, more sustainable future.
“We want to bring together forward-thinking clients and the region’s innovators and SMEs, enabling conversations which will only be achieved through collaboration across the industry. Decarbonisation, at scale, is going to depend on SMEs having the confidence to invest in innovation and this will only happen if clients and the industry invest in it. We are looking to invite a speaker to the summit who can talk to clients, innovators and SME exhibitors about sustainable, ethical finance and the options available to them.
“This is an opportunity for SMEs and start-ups to showcase to future construction clients, consultants, contractors and the supply chain what they can offer and one which gives the innovators within construction the confidence to invest more in the future.”
Applebridge Construction is one such company that has taken advantage of the funding and will be exhibiting at the summit.
Andy Ray, group operations director at Applebridge Construction, said: “The funding available has enabled us to get in front of potential future investors and it is an opportunity for us to discuss our exciting developments in the evolution of concrete as we launch a sustainable, low carbon product to change the future of concrete.
“Sustainability and the transition to net-zero is the number one talking point across all industries and we look forward to being part of that conversation.”