CEWales E Bulletin – February 2019

Towards the end of January CEWales held a major event in partnership with the Future Generations Wales team where we asked: just what does the Wellbeing Future Generations Act (Wales) mean for for the construction sector? It was the culmination of a series of workshops we had undertaken either side of Christmas with stakeholders across the industry in the south and north and amongst different generations of professionals.

The answer was unanimous. The WFG Act has everything to do with construction. Why? Because our industry is the great enabler. We know that as a country we need better homes, hospitals, schools and improvements to our transport. It's construction that will deliver these homes and facilities. But the question is how? The answer is delivering these projects sustainably – planning, designing, building, refurbishing and maintaining our built environment in line with sustainable development targets and the goals of the WFG Act. In our report we go into more detail, but suffice to say what's required across our industry is a shift in mind set.

The good news is that the change in behaviours that's required overlaps with the values of best practice, collaborative working, integrated teams and procurement that we have been advocating as CEWales. The core values of Latham and Egan are incredibly closely matched against the ideas enshrined in law in the WFG Act.

So, our work continues with fresh urgency. It is why we are so closely aligned with the FGW team and the Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie Howe. Construction has no option but to adapt its behaviours and performance to fit with the goals outlined by the FGW Act. It is the right thing – morally and ethically.