When our Immediate Past President, Professor Mike Kagioglou, announced the theme of his presidency focusing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), it was an exciting opportunity to breathe fresh life into an agenda that has fallen behind, and to ask how our industry can help pick up the pace and drive progress towards the global goals. 

SDG roundtables 

The starting point was to convene a group of construction leaders to work together to progress the topic of Mike’s presidential theme, which aimed to explore how we can use the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework to help the industry become both more innovative and more sustainable. 

By inviting these leaders to attend a series of three roundtables, Mike was also inviting them to work together to articulate what the industry is already doing and to help conceptualise an agenda for change. He was clear that they must be in leadership positions, with a genuine desire to contribute to the discussion, and in a strong position to be able to effect change within their own organisations and wider industry.

As the series of roundtables progressed, it was clear there was a huge appetite to work together to deliver faster progress on a wide range of sustainability issues, and the group looked to other sectors for learning, carried out a high level analysis of their own organisation’s contributions to the goals, discussed how we can overcome barriers and challenges, and came up with a series of recommendations to take the agenda forward. 

Reporting the findings 

As Mike’s Presidency came to a close, I was delighted to present the findings from this work at the CIOB Member’s Forum in Belfast, as we launched the report Using the SDGs as a framework to help the built environment industry become more innovative and sustainable.

Packed with industry-led case studies from members of the group, the report has been designed as a practical resource which we hope will provide a blueprint for accelerating action towards the global goals within our industry. It also identifies actions that we will take forward at the CIOB to continue this work and address the opportunities and barriers raised, with a particular focus on how we can support SMEs.

We’ve started this work already, with the publication of a new webinar The UNSDGs and the built environment: An introduction for SMEs, which is available now via the CIOB Academy and was first presented live to a group of our CIOB Company Members.

We have been overwhelmed by the positive response to the report from this work and would like to maintain the momentum, continuing to support the industry in accelerating progress towards the global goals.

Maintaining the momentum

So, we are excited to announce that we will be launching Series 2 of the CIOB SDG Roundtables later this year, with four roundtables by the end of 2026, each focusing in on one goal, so we can consider more deeply how our industry can drive forwards. 

We are delighted to confirm that Cressida Curtis, Group Director of Sustainability at Wates Group has agreed to Co-Chair the roundtables, alongside Mike. I am sure Cressida’s additional commitment and energy will help take this work to a new level.

We invite you to join us in this work. These roundtables can be attended as a series, which helps us to see interconnections, or you can choose to contribute to the topics that interest you most. We hope to see more diverse perspectives engaged in the discussion, so we will be providing a hybrid option to enable construction leaders to join us, wherever they are in the world.

The first roundtable on 7 October will focus on SDG 13 Climate Action, and convening just ahead of COP 30, will be a great opportunity to reflect on our role in tackling climate change. We will consider how our industry can drive forward our ambition on climate change, what is genuinely innovative and shifts the dial, how we can move from incremental to transformational change in the built environment, and what we need from policy makers at all levels to support this.

As Mike says in the report: “As this report and many others have demonstrated it is simply not enough to continue at our current pace. The UN SDGs offer a useful tool and framework for addressing our approach in a holistic way. Perfectly aligned to CIOBs strategy around modern professionalism, quality and skills, and sustainability, it presents an opportunity for all of us to engage with renewed energy and enthusiasm in picking up the pace and delivering greater benefits for us all. Join us as we continue our work to make a difference in our sector. The companies presented in this report are already doing so. I am sure that there are hundreds more, globally. Become the inspiration for others and ensure a brighter future for us all!”

If you would like to get involved in leading this change, then please get in touch via this Expression of Interest Form.