The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has announced a series of new appointments to its board and changes to how it is governed.
Richard Robinson, regional president, AMEA, for AtkinsRéalis, will also stand down as deputy co-chair of the CLC. The CLC will announce a process to appoint his replacement shortly.
The governance changes will enable wider representation from construction’s core sectors and the appointment of senior representatives from the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) and the Cabinet Office.
Mark Farmer has joined the board as the industry sponsor for people and skills, replacing Tim Balcon, who was delivering the role in an interim capacity during 2025. Balcon will continue as Farmer’s deputy. Farmer has also joined the Construction Skills Mission Board.
Karl Whiteman, executive director for the Berkeley Group, will take on an additional brief as industry sponsor for health, safety and wellbeing.
Stronger links to government
The CLC board – co-chaired by Chris McDonald, minister for industry from the Department for Business and Trade and Mark Reynolds, executive chair of Mace Group – has been expanded to include representation from key government departments, representatives within each CLC sector group and the industry lead from each strategic workstream.
The CLC’s Advisory Group, established to support the restructure of the CLC in 2022, has been formally stood down, with some members joining the board and others stepping away from their roles entirely.
Becky Wood, CEO of NISTA, and Clare Gibbs, director of markets, sourcing and suppliers and the Procurement Review Unit for the Cabinet Office, have both joined the CLC’s board.
The appointments reflect the CLC’s establishment of more formal relationships across government and aim to ensure that the construction industry has stronger links with the departments that shape the sector’s business landscape.
Wider representation from industry
The expanded board will include a representative from each of the CLC’s four strategic workstreams and, for the first time, the four industry sector groups.
Janet Young, director general and secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers, is the representative for infrastructure; Neil Jefferson, CEO of the Home Builders Federation, is the representative for housing; Anna Scothern, CEO of the National Home Improvement Council, is the representative for domestic repair, maintenance and improvement; and Mark Robinson, CEO of Scape, is the representative for places, assets and commissioning.
Members of the board will play an active role in the development of a refreshed CLC Strategy and Biennial Report in March.
The new strategy aims to align the objectives of the industry with the government’s ambitions for the delivery of infrastructure and the built environment, including the construction of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
Commenting on the changes, Reynolds said: “The CLC’s new governance reflects the increasingly central role of the industry to the government’s bold ambitions for the industry – and the need to make sure that every major sector has a voice.
“More than ever, every part of our industry has a role to play if we are to deliver the economic growth, housing and infrastructure delivery and job creation we so desperately need.
“Over the last three years, the CLC has played a crucial role in convening industry and government and finding solutions for shared problems. The publication of both the refreshed CLC Strategy and the Construction Industry Workforce Plan in the first quarter of 2026 will set out a clear route forward for the ongoing transformation of our industry.”
