Our role in the Future Innovation Group

My role within Pick Everard’s senior management team allows me to use my experience to encourage the flow of information and ideas to help solve problems – internally and for clients. This meant that when we were approached to get involved with The Future Innovation Group (TFIG) – a cross-specialism collective formed to bring together the brightest young minds across the construction industry to tackle the biggest issues – I was keen to show my support.

The group is led by a steering group of placement students and is open to young people in any construction-related business sector – from contractors and consultants to marketeers – and is backed by ourselves and a number of industry-leading companies including Pagabo and Morgan Sindall.

Having only been officially established in recent months, early interest in the group from various companies both large and small, has been tremendous. The first event hosted by TFIG’s leadership panel, organised by three inspiring young placement students at Morgan Sindall, was both sponsored and attended by ourselves. I took the trip to the two-day hackathon in Hull alongside talent acquisition business partner Hope Thorley, architectural assistant Nishal Tailor and project manager Karla Heywood.

After only one gathering, I am confident that TFIG is a group here to stay. I was already confident that the young people in attendance would come with new ideas and enthusiasm that will help me to better understand the next generation’s view of the industry and provide inspirational ideas for the future. I assumed that I would have had to help facilitate some initial conversations and break the ice, I am pleased to say that I was wrong and that our future leaders are definitely already among us.

On day one, the small teams made up of young professionals from different businesses were challenged with working on solutions to breaking down barriers within the industry and retaining talent; and devising approaches for making the industry more data driven. Before presenting solutions on the second day, to all attendees to open the conversation and establish possible routes forward.

From my perspective, some of the standout suggestions include cross-mentoring between young and older professionals to increase two-way learning opportunities, creating a marketplace for digital solutions to avoid an unhelpful monopoly, and creating a suite of industry made resources to promote the variety of careers available, which are largely unknown.

It was interesting to see the collaboration between attendees familiar with onsite surroundings and those with office-based expertise. These cultures are very different and breaking any barriers down to ensure that we work together as one industry was recognised as an important aim for the group moving forward. It’s easy to forget, but the social element of events like this hackathon are somewhat lost in today’s digital world. There is no coincidence that the likely success of this event will be influenced by the proactive approach of attendees meeting in person and the many more companies that have enquired about getting involved in the future.

Beyond the ideas discussed, , there was plenty of discussion around grand plans for the TFIG brand itself and what this new group can achieve and hopefully all the companies involved will play a role in making it a reality. For example, the group’s capability to provide a portal that allows members to share their experiences for others to learn from – therefore increasing accessibility and inclusion – demonstrated the awareness of young people that growing together is as important as growing individually.

It’s without doubt that TFIG has huge potential, and I am proud that Pick Everard are contributing and investing in both our experts of the future and other young professionals. While our courageous vision is one of the things that sets us apart from many other businesses in the industry, we have the opportunity to learn from one another in the process.