Driving culture change in construction prioritised by new BESA president

Curtis (Group services manager at building services company Briggs & Forrester) has just been elected to serve as BESA president for 2025-2026 and, in his inaugural address, asked Association members and practitioners operating in the wider industry to focus on where they could influence changes to improve compliance with the Building Safety Act 2022.

“When faced with something truly seismic and truly transformational,” noted Curtis, “you have to break it down into manageable pieces. For someone working in our industry, that means looking at what parts of a project or process they can influence.”

Curtis said it was all too easy to call on the Government “to do something” and, instead, urged BESA companies to sign the Association’s new Member Pledge. This involves a practical commitment “to make a better industry” by embedding individual and organisational competence into all aspects of a business’ operations and “inspiring our supply chains to do the same”.

On that note, Curtis stated: “We do have a measure of control and influence over the people we employ both directly and indirectly and have a responsibility to use that influence to bring about change for the better.”

Planning applications

Curtis continued: “We must ask ourselves what training are we doing to address our skills shortages? Are we investing in the digital processes that can help our companies submit better planning applications, for example?’ In short, are we compliant? Is everyone who works for us competent to do the specific job for which we have appointed them? Can we prove it? Have we rooted out behaviour that can lead to unsafe buildings? These are key questions for all of us.”

Curtis boasts upwards of 35 years’ experience at the Briggs & Forrester Group, which is one of the UK’s largest independent contractors, turning over more than £270 million per annum. He has worked his way up through the ranks to the role of Group services manager, reporting directly to the CEO and the Board of directors, and lists an impressive background in people development, contract management and organisational performance.

A graduate of the University of Northampton and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Curtis has long been a champion for developing future generations of craft and technical engineers and is determined to see progress on addressing the industry’s skills shortages during his presidential year.

Ageing workforce

“We have an ageing workforce with more people approaching retirement than coming into the industry,” asserted Curtis. “BESA members have identified this issue as the biggest threat to prospects for growth.”

In addition, Curtis observed: “Many Training Centres have stopped delivering building services courses because of historic low demand, while many suffer from a critical shortage of trainers and assessors. This is a fundamental problem that undermines any progress we make in terms of promoting the sector to young people.”

During his presidential year, Curtis plans to build on the findings of a detailed study carried out by BESA into the sector’s skills requirements and is seeking to grow the number of qualified trainers and assessors supporting apprenticeships through the Association’s ‘Skilled Legacy’ Programme.

This scheme encourages experienced engineers to ‘give something back to the industry’ by offering their expertise to help with the delivery of apprenticeships. Curtis pointed out that engineers often undervalue their own knowledge and experience, but there’s huge untapped value here for both colleges and students.

“By offering to share knowledge and experience with a whole new generation, more mature engineers will be making an enormous contribution to the advancement of our industry,” concluded Curtis. “What a fantastic way to give something back when you are in the later stages of your career. Personally, I cannot think of anything more fitting for me to champion in my presidential year at BESA.”

*Further information is available online at www.thebesa.com