Behind the Built Environment

In this special episode of Behind The Built Environment, we share Dr Barbara Lane’s keynote, “Safety First: Ethical Practice in the Built Environment”, recorded at the BESA Annual Conference on 22 October 2026. Barbara is Chair of the Building Advisory Committee at the Building Safety Regulator and a Chartered Engineer with Engineers Ireland. Drawing on three decades of experience across design, construction and maintenance, including eight years as an expert to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, she examines the industry’s responsibility to protect people and rebuild public trust.Her keynote explores why building safety depends on ethical practice, practical competence and collaboration throughout a building’s life. She explains why the lessons from Grenfell extend far beyond cladding, and why design, installation, commissioning, maintenance and ongoing management must be understood as interconnected parts of delivering a safe building. This episode covers:• Why protecting people and acting in the public interest must underpin decisions across the built environment• What the Grenfell Tower Inquiry revealed about failures in design, construction, maintenance and information sharing• Why fire safety depends on the performance of the whole building and its interconnected systems• The importance of smoke ventilation, fire doors, dampers and effective maintenance• Why a fire strategy must be reflected in how a completed building actually performs• How clear records and communication help people understand, operate and maintain safety-critical systems• What ethical practice means, including honesty, integrity, accuracy, rigour and accountability• Why professionals must recognise the limits of their competence and challenge assumptions• How procurement decisions, limited budgets and unrealistic timescales can undermine safe outcomes• Why building safety responsibilities extend beyond new higher-risk buildings• The need to consider residents who cannot evacuate independently• How overheating, an ageing population and emerging risks are changing the demands placed on buildings• Why everyone involved in the building lifecycle has a role in raising standards and restoring trust. The keynote is followed by questions from BESA Chief Executive David Frise and conference delegates, covering leadership accountability, procurement practices, raising safety concerns and the practical barriers to industry change.Behind The Built Environment is the official podcast of BESA (Building Engineering Services Association). We dive into the regulations, challenges, people and innovations shaping the future of UK construction and building engineering.https://www.thebesa.com/behind-the-built-environment

Building standards set out what good looks like. Delivering better buildings depends on how those standards are understood, applied and supported by practical competence.In this episode of Behind The Built Environment, David Frise, Chief Executive of BESA, speaks with Ant Burd, Director at BSI Standards.Ant explains how standards are developed, how they support building regulations and why contractors, residents and the wider supply chain should help shape them. The conversation explores the gap between good paperwork and sound judgement, the pressures created by cost-driven procurement, and the importance of collaboration in delivering safer, more sustainable buildings. This episode covers:* The status of standards and when regulations or contracts give them greater authority* How contractors and other stakeholders can contribute to standards development* Resolving conflicting standards before design and construction begin* Building safety responsibilities and the changes still needed following Grenfell* Practical competence, experience and the limits of qualifications* Making standards easier for smaller contractors to find and use* AI, human judgement and the future of machine-readable standardsThe discussion also considers how standards can support energy performance through design, commissioning and everyday operation. As technology changes how technical information is accessed, Ant highlights the continuing need for trusted sources, competent people and shared responsibility for the buildings the industry delivers.

In this episode of Behind the Built Environment, David Frise, Chief Executive of BESA, speaks with Dave Cooper MBE, President of CIBSE and a lift and escalator engineer with more than four decades of experience across engineering, safety, education, standards and expert witness work.Dave explains how an apprenticeship on the railway led him into the highly specialised world of lift engineering, and why collaboration between different engineering disciplines is essential to delivering better buildings.The conversation explores why lifts should be considered much earlier in the design process, how technology and AI could help predict failures, and why designing and maintaining buildings around whole-life value is so important.This episode covers:• Why lifts and escalators are critical to modern buildings and the growth of cities• How collaboration between engineers, consultants, architects and contractors can deliver better buildings• Why clients need to consider vertical transportation at the earliest stages of a project• How AI and machine learning could improve lift performance and predict failures before they happen• The difference between designing for failure and managing failure• Why maintenance should move from reactive repairs towards anticipating when components need replacing• How value engineering can become a false economy when capital cost takes priority over whole-life cost• Why product selection and installation quality both matter to long-term performance• The importance of designing buildings for resilience and future requirements• What competence really means beyond qualifications, including knowledge, skills and behaviours• Why the industry faces a skills shortage and needs to make building engineering careers more attractive to young people• The role of apprenticeships and combining practical experience with academic qualifications• Why engineers need both specialist expertise and a broader understanding of the built environment• The challenge of making technical standards accessible to the engineers working at the coalface Dave also discusses his research into escalator safety, including the role of human behaviour and the need to challenge assumptions about why accidents happen. He argues that better engineering decisions require a clearer understanding of how buildings and their systems are actually used. [00:00] - Introduction & Dave Cooper's Career[01:00] - Quick-Fire Questions[03:45] - Lift Engineering & Collaboration[07:30] - The History and Importance of Lifts[10:30] - Designing Lifts for Modern Buildings[13:30] - AI, Technology & Predictive Systems[17:30] - Safety, Accidents & Human Behaviour[21:00] - Failure, Maintenance & Reliability[24:00] - Value Engineering & Whole-Life Cost[28:00] - Future-Proofing Buildings[31:00] - Competence, Skills & Qualifications[35:00] - Attracting the Next Generation of Engineers[38:00] - Specialism vs the Bigger Picture[40:00] - Dave's Career Legacy & Standards[42:00] - "King for a Day" & Outro Behind The Built Environment is the official podcast of BESA (Building Engineering Services Association). We dive into the regulations, challenges, people and innovations shaping the future of UK construction and building engineering.

Construction cannot improve quality, productivity, and building safety while commercial models continue to reward the lowest price, push risk down the supply chain, and encourage short-term decision-making. In this episode of Behind the Built Environment, David Frise, Chief Executive of BESA, speaks with Paul Beeston, Partner and Head of Industry and Service Insight at RLB, who has more than 25 years of experience across the built environment and has recently joined the Construction Leadership Council board to lead work on reforming construction’s business models. Paul argues that construction’s commercial model is not fundamentally broken, but that decades-old procurement practices are increasingly struggling in a market where clients expect more from their supply chains. At the same time, businesses face greater volatility, risk and pressure. The conversation explores how better governance, smarter procurement, and fairer risk allocation could build stronger businesses and deliver better project outcomes. This episode covers: Why good governance starts with strong client leadership, clear decision-making and transparencyWhy lowest-price procurement can undermine quality and create the wrong behaviours from the outsetHow risk is pushed down the supply chain and what sensible risk allocation should look likeThe case for earlier and more open engagement with contractors and specialist subcontractorsWhy retentions should be abolished and the potential unintended consequences of replacing them with bondsHow the Building Safety Act is changing attitudes towards quality, competence and accountabilityWhy right-first-time delivery can provide clients with better protection than relying on contractual or financial securityThe challenge of measuring construction productivity without losing sight of quality, social value and workforce outcomesWhy whole-life value and building performance need to carry more weight in procurement decisionsHow data, AI, partnering and new commercial models could reshape construction over the next five years Paul also challenges one of construction’s most persistent habits: treating price as the easiest definition of value. With RLB research showing that 40% of procurement activity is still selected purely on price, meaningful reform will require clients and the wider industry to look beyond capital cost and understand the long-term outcomes they are actually buying. Ultimately, the episode asks whether construction can create a commercial environment where every part of the supply chain understands the value it contributes and how that contribution connects to better outcomes for clients, businesses and society.

Self-certification schemes sit at the heart of millions of building projects. Still, proposed reforms could bring greater scrutiny to how installers demonstrate competence, notify work and comply with building regulations.In this episode of Behind The Built Environment, David Frise, Chief Executive of BESA, speaks with Mussa Awaleh, Head of Self-certification Schemes and Reform of Building Regulatory Guidance at the Building Safety Regulator.Mussa explains how the schemes, renamed from competent person schemes to self-certification schemes, support the building regulatory system and why their purpose, assessment and oversight are under review. The proposed reforms could affect installers, contractors and scheme operators as expectations around competence, accountability and consumer protection continue to rise.This episode covers:What prompted the change from competent person schemes to self-certification schemesHow installer competence should be assessed, revalidated and maintainedThe responsibility to notify controlled building workThe roles of the Building Safety Regulator, MHCLG and UKASEnforcement action against non-compliant contractorsHow a single construction regulator could reshape industry oversightWith more than 130,000 registered businesses operating across these schemes, reform could have significant consequences for the building services sector. The discussion also considers procurement risk, the Warm Homes Plan and the culture change needed alongside regulatory reform.