
CIOB Wales held the inaugural CIOB Wales Construction Cymru conference in early spring, providing a platform for sharing best practice and industry trends, and acting as a one-stop-shop for CIOB members to meet their CPD requirements for the year.
The sell-out event – sponsored by Lancer Scott, Morgan Sindall and Green Hat Consulting – was held at Swansea Arena, a deliberate move to give those based further west the opportunity to attend.
A variety of experts representing different sectors of the industry spoke to inform, debate and discuss the issues that matter to the construction community in Wales.
Modern professionalism, compliance and competence were the key themes from speakers who included: CIOB Wales chair Wyn Harries; CIOB CEO Caroline Gumble; CIOB president Professor Mike Kagioglou; and Nick Bennett, director, planning economics, Savills. Bennett presented a built environment economic outlook for Wales which was not an “indulgence in Welsh miserabilism”.

David Kirby and Stuart Brown presented the CIOB research and report Constructing Wales: Risks and Opportunities for SMEs in Wales.
Professor John Edwards presented Retrofit – The Damp & Mould Dilemma and Phillip Graham presented a legal update including an update on JCT 2024.
Building a Safer Wales – Building Safety Act was discussed by Mark Tambini, head of building regulations policy with the Welsh government; Peter Dawber, from the Industry Competence Committee advising the Building Safety Regulator; William Tomlinson of Cubex Land; and Waseem Mahmood of JLL.
A Tomorrow’s Leaders breakout session on Talent Management and Career Enhancement was led by TL representative Carl Randell of Kier.