Behind the Built Environment

About Behind the Built Environment

Behind the Built Environment, a podcast from BESA where we delve into the latest industry news in the building engineering services sector. Join us for insightful discussions and exclusive interviews with leading industry experts, as we explore the trends and innovations shaping the future of the built environment and what impact they will have on you and your business. Find us at https://www.thebesa.com/

Publisher

BESA

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Apr 2024

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

34 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   Building Standards And The Reality Of Construction

   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 standards The 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.

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Designing for Failure, Safety and the Future

   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.

3. 

   27 Aug 2026

   Construction Cannot Reform While Lowest Price Still Wins

   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 transparency Why lowest-price procurement can undermine quality and create the wrong behaviours from the outset How risk is pushed down the supply chain and what sensible risk allocation should look like The case for earlier and more open engagement with contractors and specialist subcontractors Why retentions should be abolished and the potential unintended consequences of replacing them with bonds How the Building Safety Act is changing attitudes towards quality, competence and accountability Why right-first-time delivery can provide clients with better protection than relying on contractual or financial security The challenge of measuring construction productivity without losing sight of quality, social value and workforce outcomes Why whole-life value and building performance need to carry more weight in procurement decisions How 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.

Who has been a guest on Behind the Built Environment

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Paul Wilkinson
• Dr Catarina Marques
• Amanda Long

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 12 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

23

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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