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Closing Remarks | Jacqui Glass

Professor Jacqueline Glass, Principal Investigator of the Transforming Construction Network Plus, celebrates our achievements as the project ends, and calls for continued efforts across the sector.

The N+ closes its doors this week after almost three years of research, events and lots of online engagement.  While you will hear from us on social media in the coming months as we complete a few further items on our ‘to do’ list, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our supporters generally and call out a few people for special acknowledgement.

Thank you first of all to our funders and partner organisations: UKRI, ESRC and everyone in the ISCF-TCC team, Active Building Centre, BEIS, Constructing Excellence, Construction Products Association, Construction Industry Council, Construction Innovation Hub, Construction Leadership Council, Construction Scotland Innovation Centre as well as the brilliant communications teams in UKRI, ESRC, Centre for Digital Built Britain, the Association of Project Management, and the Major Projects Association.

Our Chair, Ann Bentley of Ryder Levitt Bucknall has been an inspiration throughout, as have Sam Stacey of TCC and Fergus Harradence of BEIS. In UKRI, Adam Luqmani and Hannah Gibson deserve a special mention for their enduring energy and enthusiasm.

My personal thanks go to the extended N+ team who made everything possible and worked together so well to stretch all of our ambitions: Andy Davies, Ben Kidd, Caroline Fraser, Dorine Plante, James McGilvray, Jan Godsell, Jennifer Whyte, Kell Jones, Laila Yousofi, Lisa Hanselmann, Luigi Mosca, Miray Kaya, Paul Ruyssevelt, Sumeer Chakuu, and Zoe Robinson.  And the many professional services staff in all our universities deserve special thanks for their considerate and supportive actions to make the N+ such a success – whether you helped with finance, contracts, events or communications – thank you.

And of course, thanks to all of you as avid supporters, through our newsletters, events, and social media platforms, for your participation throughout!

Finally, we have our last call to action - please do continue the mission to transform the construction sector.  Emmeline Pankhurst, political activist and leader of the Suffragette movement, who helped women win the right to vote, captured this idea very well when she said:

“You have to make more noise than anybody else, you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, you have to fill all the papers more than anybody else, in fact you have to be there all the time and see that they do not show you under, if you are really going to get your reform realised.”

Let’s keep making more noise.

Thank you very much and bye for now.