The top 10 projects in the UK expecting to start this year are all in London, according to data from Barbour ABI.
London stands out as easily the strongest market in the country for contractors on the lookout for new orders in 2024, agrees Glenigan. “A series of large private apartment and build-to-rent projects around the city and the capital’s busy office construction and hotel and leisure sectors are buoying up private building activity,” it reports.
It is perhaps not surprising to hear that APS’s two regional representatives from the England South region are both flat out with work. “The market is extremely buoyant. It’s pretty non-stop,” says Peter Waxman, project director, Gleeds Health and Safety.
Fellow representative Peter Taylor agrees: “The private sector in the south east is extremely busy, in commercial, retail, warehousing and hospitality.”
Waxman’s work is advising clients on dutyholding and CDM regulations – and providing advice for the CDM principal designer obligations. Taylor is a partner at Leslie Clark, which provides CDM consultancy services and acts as CDM principal designer.
The pair discuss how their work is changing under the new building safety landscape in our main feature.
Changes to building regulations
Getting to grips with the changes under the Building Safety Act, including changes to the building regulations, is inevitably a key talking point in conversations with fellow APS members.
“Our conversations tend to be about changes to the building regulations, and how each of us within our own organisations are managing it and what messages we’re also sending out to our clients,” says Waxman.
Waxman and Taylor are founder members of the London branch, the first to be founded in the England South region. The region includes the capital and spans the south east and south west all the way down to Land’s End.
The branch was formed from the former London committee when the APS regional structure changed from 12 to six regions last year. The London branch is, however, open to any APS member. As Taylor proudly says, it has a member from Cornwall. “Clearly its not practical for everyone to travel that far to meetings,” he says.
He adds: “Our aim is to grow as many branches as possible so that we can gather feedback to take to the centre.” This will happen through the National Members’ Representative Group (NMRG). The two representatives from each region have a seat around this table and Taylor is the deputy chair.
New company branch
A new company branch has also been set up out of the region by Potter Raper, the multidisciplinary construction consultancy.
The idea is that branches can be formed if five members propose one and if it has sponsorship from a regional representative.
Some of the new APS branches, such as the Potter Raper one, are being formed by APS members working for the same company, for CPD purposes. A new branch in east Kent is also being explored.
Taylor explains that the London branch is looking to host CPD workshops soon and is hoping its first events will be on structural steel and fire risk assessments.
To find out more about the England South region, contact Peter Waxman ([email protected]) or Peter Taylor ([email protected]).
