Modern contracting with Katy Dowding

Today's podcast is episode 99 and we are going to talk about the challenge of modern contracting. There is no doubt that we are in a world where infrastructure investment is well and truly back in fashion. That’s true whether we are transforming our energy future, racing to meet a net zero goals, improving lives and community, protecting the environment, solving the housing crisis or indeed, supporting the government’s lofty ambitions for an AI driven, world leading growth agenda,Yes, we hear it all the time: infrastructure investment is key to boosting growth. Yet the question still remains: how do we actually create this new world? The answer of course is contractors - the skills, the ingenuity, and innovation, passion and resource of a pretty unique bunch of folk who, rain or shine, get out there and make it happen. My guest today knows all about the pressures and delights of contracting. Katy Dowding is president and CEO of Skanska UK, one of the UK's leading and most innovative contractors and the UK division of Skanska AB, the £13bn revenue global business based in Sweden.Katy has been with Skanska for a large part of her 30 year career in the industry and has ridden the rollercoaster of boom and bust, feast and famine that has too often characterised the sector throughout that time.So where are we now? Are we moving away from the low margin dog eat dog world? Have we arrived at the new low carbon era of collaboration, quality driven value led outcomes? And critically, are we creating an industry in which the brightest and the best actually now want to work and a sector that is set up to transform the world around us and create the kind of built and natural environment that really will change lives?Let's find out.ResourcesSkanska UK websiteConstruction Leadership CouncilNational Infrastructure Commission Infrastructure and Projects Authority Wates Corporate Governance PrinciplesBartlett School of Sustainable ConstructionConstruction Youth Trust