Andy Steele Talks About His Predictions for 2016

Andy Steele, Osborne Group Chief Executive, recently appeared in Building Magazine, where he talked about his predictions for 2016.

Building Magazine asked key industry insiders to comment on what they felt would become the major talking points for the year ahead. What are the challenges? The key developments and government policies that look set to shape 2016?

Andy Steele said: “The ‘Big Issue’ continues to be where we stand in the customers’ eyes. A lot of customers struggle with completely trusting contractors, therefore there is a reluctance to engage with us early. Somehow we have to change these perceptions, not only to improve the industry in the eyes of customers, but to also attract new employees into the industry.

He continued: “We are typically seen as a slow industry in taking on board new initiatives and technology. This links into BIM: it should have helped us transform the whole industry, but the industry has been slow to engage with it so we risk not hitting some deadlines.”

Andy Steele concluded: “As we move into 2016, the biggest project for the industry is the HS2 rail project as this will be real testbed for the industry, but for Osborne, our biggest project would be the library resource centre at Royal Holloway (University of London).”