9 minute read
Construction
The future of the construction industry
2020 as we all know has been a challenging year for us all in one way or another, as a business leader Carol Massay CEO of specialist construction software company EasyBuild UK talks to us about the future of the construction industry and recovering from a tough year for the sector.
The construction industry has come a long way since the mud and clay that it started from, with safety regulations to mobile devices and the use of technology, innovation has made a huge impact on the industry.
A move to digital transformation, driven by legislation and a new focus on safety will become key priorities in a post pandemic world. The construction industry needs a significant reliable update to do everything, from attracting new business to the basics of running a company day to day. The industry must improve, with changes being driven by improved technologies to aid decision making where this delivers better outcomes. People, organisations, and data will come together through technology and smarter ways of working. EasyBuild are one step ahead with their innovative award winning software platform, providing a comprehensive financial and commercial management solution for your projects.
Kristy Lansdown is the Project Director at Elephant Park, Lendlease’s £2.5bn regeneration scheme being delivered in Elephant & Castle.
Temporary projects and public art have been introduced whilst construction continues Lendlease has now been hard at work in Southwark for over a decade. Elephant Park is one of our flagship projects and by 2025, we will have delivered 3,000 new homes for the borough, as well as space for over 50 retailers, new workspace and more than 11 acres of parks, streets and public places.
Construction began in 2013 and since that time we have made great progress, working in partnership with Southwark Council. We have now completed almost 1,500 homes, with over 1,000 more currently in construction. Our first new high street – Sayer Street – has opened to the public, whilst the first phase of a new park opened in 2017 and a low carbon energy centre is now up and running. But as well as this physical legacy of new buildings, streets, parks and infrastructure, Elephant Park also has the ambition of seeking to help address some of most pressing challenges that face cities like London today. It’s why – at a time when Southwark Council has recently announced a Climate Emergency in the borough – we are proud that Elephant Park is committed to being a completely net zero carbon development in operation. It’s also why almost half of our entire masterplan has been set aside for green and public spaces - and why, by the time the project completes, we will have planted over 1,300 new trees. The provision of green spaces in London has been increasingly valued by communities in recent years, but even more so in 2020 due to the pressures we have all faced during the global pandemic. Perhaps chief among the challenges we are seeking to help address is ensuring that Elephant Park supports and promotes the long-term sustainability of the Elephant & Castle economy, and provides tangible economic opportunities for local people and businesses.
We have already had some success. For example, the project has already provided work for over 1,500 local residents, with over half of these jobs going to people from previously unemployed backgrounds. And to help close the skills gap of local people who were looking for construction work, but without the necessary skills, we partnered with Southwark Council to deliver the Southwark Construction Skills Centre. Since 2016, it has trained over 8,000 people and secured work for over 1,100. But it’s not just about construction jobs and skills. With Elephant Park now well over halfway through its delivery, we think we can do more to build on these early successes and leave a truly lasting economic legacy for Elephant & Castle and Southwark. Over the past 12 to 18 months we have begun to open the first phase of retail at Elephant Park and we have been prioritising spaces for small, Southwark-based, independent businesses. So far, of the retailers who have opened their doors to the public, over half of them are local businesses taking advantage of affordable rents. And four of those entrepreneurs have come from Artworks Elephant – a business incubator project we set-up between 2014-2018 to provide low-cost, flexible business premises for local firms. There is no doubt it has been an incredibly difficult year for the retail sector, and small businesses in particular, so we have put in place extra business mentoring support for our retailers to access. We have also recognised that, whilst parts of Elephant Park remain a construction site, we need to provide temporary installations and public spaces to create the best possible environment for retailers to thrive. One of these – The Living Room @ Sayer Street – opened earlier this year, providing a 70m part-covered structure for outdoor seating, planting and landscaping and three pop-up kiosks for creative businesses. It’s a stunning new installation that is already driving extra footfall into the area, as well as providing additional outdoor dining areas, which are of great benefit to our retailers given ongoing Covid restrictions.
The first phase of the park at the centre of the development opened in 2017
More retail units are set to open in 2021
Looking ahead, Elephant Park is set to deliver even more retail spaces between now and 2025 but also workspace as well, allowing an even broader range of businesses to set-up in the area. And it is not just Lendlease that is hard at work in the area, the wider regeneration of Elephant & Castle is set to deliver a further 2,000 more homes, a 350,000 sq.ft university building for the University of the Arts’ London College of Communication, a new Northern Line ticket hall, a multi-screen cinema, a library and exhibition space, plus a wide variety of other retail spaces. At the turn of the 20th century, Elephant & Castle had such a thriving economy that it was known as the ‘Piccadilly of the South’. With the scale of development now coming
Almost 1,500 homes are already complete with 1,500 still to go
forward in the area and more and more people and businesses choosing, once again, to put down their roots here, it’s a reputation that has increasing resonance today. And by the time Elephant Park is complete, we aim to have played our part in helping to secure the Elephant’s long-term economic success.
Sayer Street - a new high street providing affordable rents for small Southwark-based businesses
How Southwark’s digital stronghold could lead the new world of work
2020 will certainly go down in the history books for being the year that fundamentally reshaped the way we work. The virus has disrupted every industry structure and business model, whilst throwing a light on communication challenges and opportunities. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, explained it well during his earnings report to Wall Street: “we’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”
This monumental shift to ‘virtual business’ has placed an emphasis on technologies that enable us to seamlessly work online, such as broadband. A recent report from online conference provider, Powwownow, illustrated the importance of connectivity to London businesses in particular: “60% of SMEs based in the Capital now value “high broadband speed and quality” as more critical to their business operations than a fully functioning supply chain.”
This survey finding formed part of a letter it wrote to government, alongside SME company leaders, which called on them to accelerate the rollout of full-fibre broadband across the UK in its National Infrastructure Strategy. Currently, just 14% of the UK has access to this gold standard of broadband. With a ‘full fibre’ connection, businesses have a service that they can truly depend and build upon. Businesses are developing with new models, which rely on real-time communications with suppliers and customers, data-driven cloud-based business processes, and high dependency on reliable, limitless broadband connectivity. With full fibre, these processes and interactions become instantaneous, giving them an immediate and significant productivity boost. Looking ahead, hybrid working looks set to stay. With this new world of work, there will undoubtedly be growth opportunities from the digital sector, which already contributes more than £400 million a day to the UK economy. There will also be innovations in e-commerce, delivery companies and green industry initiatives. So, what does this mean for the entrepreneurs, micro businesses, mid-size firms and large enterprises across the length and breadth of Southwark? Put simply, it presents a huge opportunity. Southwark is one of a handful of areas in the UK that has significant full-fibre coverage. This is thanks to the foresight of Southwark Council, who agreed a partnership in 2018 with a broadband company called Hyperoptic, to roll out its full fibre network across the whole borough. Hyperoptic was the first ISP LIGHTto trial 10Gbps broadband speeds and has been instrumental in pioneering the nationwide shift to full fibre. Its network now passes nearly two thirds of all properties in the borough. This means that businesses in Southwark can leapfrog the connectivity restrictions faced by the vast majority of UK LIGHT businesses. By being an undisputed digital stronghold, it’s perfectly positioned to lead the UK in the new world of work. With full fibre comes unlimited potential, which has never been more important giving the changing world we live in. Until 31 Jan 2021, businesses can also enjoy huge savings from Hyperoptic, with up to 55% off and free activation (worth £300).
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