Blog

This week, Paul is joined by Heather Evans, a Partner and the National Head of Sustainability at Rider Levett Bucknall, a Global Construction and Property Consultancy.  In this entertaining conversation, Heather explains how Quantity Surveying can survive the upcoming AI revolution in construction and not become extinct by linking cost and carbon.  Heather’s experience is… Continue reading How to save Quantity Surveying from extinction (EP 90)

This week, Paul is joined by Neil Boothroyd, an Adjudicator, Mediator, Arbitrator and Quantum Expert Witness at Gateley Vinden, which is a multi-disciplinary quantity surveying consultancy.  In this fascinating chat, Neil explains how more and more disputes are being resolved by Mediation and why he thinks this is a good thing. Neil talks about his… Continue reading Why you should use mediation to solve disputes (EP 91)

This week, Paul is joined by Michael Downes, a Solicitor/Construction Expert at Gordons LLP, a law firm from Yorkshire. In this highly insightful episode, Michael provides thoughtful advice on managing the Final Account Process, given his many years of supporting construction companies through the process. Paul and Michael discuss best practices, common pitfalls and, in… Continue reading How a lawyer suggests you manage the final account process (EP 92)

This week, we’re doing something a little different. As we approach a century of episodes, Paul reflects on five moments from the Own the Build catalogue to date, which he feels he personally extracted the most from, and thanks all the Own the Build listeners for their ongoing support – without you, we’d be nothing!… Continue reading 5 Own the Build moments you need to listen to! (EP 99)

In this landmark episode, Own the Build has a first in having three special guests in the studio. Paul is joined by Katie Hathaway (Head of Business Engagement and Communications), Natalie King (Operations Director) and Nicola Bird (Managing Director) at AccXel, the UK’s first industry-led, co-funded construction school. In this funny and heart-warming conversation, Katie,… Continue reading How one woman’s attempt to save her family business is saving UK construction (EP 100)

This week, Paul is joined by Patricia Haywood, the Director and Commercial Lead at Haywood Consulting, a construction consultancy leveraging contracts to drive profits. Patricia is a lawyer, QS, adjudicator, mediator, and much more. In this highly insightful episode, Patricia and Paul debate what “getting the contract right” means for Main Contractors and how this… Continue reading How do you get your contract right? (EP 101)

This week, Paul is joined by Simon Robinson, a Quantity Surveyor and the Director at Subport, an Award Winning Quantity Surveying Consultancy Supporting Subcontractors to secure their profits. In today’s conversation, Simon and Paul debate how to improve the relationship between Main Contractors and Subcontractors. Across the episode, we discuss how Main Contractors can better… Continue reading The top 10 things to look out for in a contract (EP 102)

This week, Paul is joined by Angela Mansell, Managing Director at Mansell Build, one of the UK’s longest-established and most experienced sub-contractors in the field of SFS, plastering, partitioning, dry-lining and rendering. In today’s conversation, Angela describes her experiences of how main contractors generally treat sub-contractors – what works, what doesn’t work and how she… Continue reading How main contractors collaborate: a subcontractor's story (EP 103)

This week, Paul is joined by Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, Media and Comms Lead for the think tank Autonomy and former advisor to the Shadow Chancellor. Joe is leading the campaign for a four-day, 32-hour working week with no loss of pay, which he argues would benefit workers and employers.… Continue reading Could we do a 4-day week in construction? (EP 104)

This week, Paul is joined by Tim Danson, Technical Director of Sustainability at WSP in the UK. Many of you will know WSP, but if you don’t, WSP is one of the world’s leading engineering professional services firms, with over 60,000 employees across 40+ countries. In today’s conversation, Tim talks about how in 2022, humans… Continue reading Why construction finds a home in the circular economy (EP 105)