E Bulletin Introduction - 8th February 2018

The C-word, Carillion, continues to cloud the horizon right now. It is difficult to ignore the topic, so I will not avoid talking about it. However, rather than look to point a finger of blame it is important to put the Carillion situation into perspective.

The C-word, Carillion, continues to cloud the horizon right now. It is difficult to ignore the topic, so I will not avoid talking about it. However, rather than look to point a finger of blame it is important to put the Carillion situation into perspective.

It looks more than ever, judging from the feedback, commentary and transcripts of the evidence to the parliamentary committee this week by ex-Carillion directors, that decisions by management were at the root cause of the company's collapse. That is important because whilst we know that the process of construction needs improvement – i.e. as Mark Farmer succinctly puts it: Modernise or Die – as an industry it is a fantastic, critical part of our economy and delivers great projects. I will never tire of reminding people that the construction industry is our country's great enabler. Without it, we cannot improve Welsh infrastructure, its healthcare, its education and go some way to solve the housing crisis. So, there is no point criticising construction itself.

After all, Carillion and its people have delivered outstanding and award-winning schemes – not least the A465. It is the people comprising the business that are an example of what makes construction great. These people – on that road scheme the teams had an historic link to Mowlem and Alfred McAlpine – will come together again to make roads, railways, hospitals and the like to secure a built environment fit for future generations. That's what we need to focus on. We need to look beyond the immediate causes stemming from four schemes and look deeper into the root causes, the management decisions at board level.

Those decisions were probably a reflection of embedded cultural behaviours. And if there is one thing that needs addressing in our industry it is the wrong behaviours that undermine our future. Modernising is the key. That means making construction a more inclusive place – in terms of ethnicity, gender and ability as well. Our industry, as a great enabler, should be a place of opportunity for all. This week the UK is celebrating women's suffrage – but there are very few women in construction, despite their obvious abilities and skills.

That needs to change. Please read the article from Tamsin Stirling this week and take time to visit the exhibition: The Women's Suffrage Movement in Wales, running from Monday 5 March 2018 to Friday 16 March 2018. The details are here
http://www.senedd.assembly.wales/mgCalendarEvent.aspx?Id=2257&RPID=1510094046