Skip navigation

Construction supply chain roundtable promoting sustainability is a huge success

17th November 2022

A roundtable addressing the opportunities and challenges facing the North East construction sector with regards to supply chain sustainability, has made its successful debut.

Hosted by Northumbria University’s Dr Alireza Shokri and Anglo Scottish Asset Finance’s Charlotte Enright, with guest speaker, Dan Smith, of ClearVUE, the event included a panel discussion and a series of questions that attendees worked together to begin finding answers.

Dr Alireza Shokri

Associate Professor at Northumbria University

Attracting SMEs to this type of interactive event is an essential part of the engagement process when it comes to developing a resilient and green supply chain.

We enjoyed an open discussion around the challenges and opportunities facing businesses within the North East construction value chain when it comes to achieving Net Zero and how collaboration can help create a greener supply chain.

Roundtable discussions allowed us to listen to industry leaders and experts, including Anglo Scottish Asset Finance and academics from Northumbria University’s Newcastle Business School, to provide a platform for future collaboration and conversation.

The aim of the event was to empower attendees to go away and think about ways to change some of the requirements within tenders and their own operational efficiency. Of course, this is just the start of wider discussions and the university looks forward to engaging with any business that would like help formulating a strategic sustainability plan.

Green construction roundtable with Anglo Scottish Asset Finance and Newcastle Business Schoo

 

 

 

Charlotte Enright

Sustainability Lead and Business Development Manager at Anglo Scottish Asset Finance

We were thrilled with the high quality of attendees. These were key decision makers and influencers and their presence shows how important addressing sustainability is to the sector.

It is clear from discussion this is a widespread issue for all within construction value chain and one that cannot be addressed by business alone. Outside agents, such as those within finance and education, play a vital role in helping to not only facilitate the conversation but, also, in developing real, actionable, change.

An interesting discussion point was how government works in cycles and policies are determined by political persuasion. As a result, governments tend not to establish long-term standards that the business sector, as a whole, can work towards to achieve meaningful change. It was suggested that perhaps policy should exist outside of government, as its own entity, meaning that these standards can be set and confusion around what needs to be done, eradicated. It is certainly an interesting conversation that many felt worthy of development.

I want to say a huge thank you to all the attendees and I look forward to playing a part in the on-going conversation.

 

Newcastle Business School

Newcastle Business School has a global reputation for delivering some of the best business management education in the UK.

Latest News and Features

Richard Lamb, Head of KTP Programme, Innovate UK and John Clayton, Knowledge Transfer Adviser, Innovate UK KTN, met with the project team for the Northumbria University and Space Architects KTP.
Ed Cottam
Members of staff from the Department of Architecture and Built Environment at Northumbria University celebrate the Surveying programmes retaining RICS accreditation.
Image of hands holding jigsaw pieces
Professor Glyn Howatson
Professor Marion Oswald MBE, Professor of Law and academic lead for the Centre for Responsible AI at Northumbria University
REVEAL 2025
Professor Nic Whitton pictured sitting at a desk next to several computer screens and VR headsets
More events

Upcoming events

REVEAL: History
Women’s Sport and Wellbeing Summit 2025
NU Advice: Still time to apply

Back to top