Registration & Networking

Welcome & Opening Remarks

UK Construction's Strategic Crossroads: Doing More with Less

Is the UK construction sector at an inflection point? Margin pressure continues, productivity is stuck, talent is in demand, the supply chain is volatile; and insolvency risk is still relatively high — could the sector’s maturing approach to technology and data be a driver of strategic change to ease these pressures. This opening session sets the strategic context for the day, making an assessment of where the sector stands and, drawing on lessons from the US market, where it can go next. We explore how construction-native technology and connected data move companies from firefighting to foresight, And what is truly takes to turn ambition into momentum.

Built to Last or Built to Fall: The Anatomy of Contractor Survival

What separates a company that weathers a storm from one that doesn't? The answer is rarely one thing - but a pattern of decisions, disciplines, and behaviours that hold or collapse under pressure. Join this session to understand the financial and operational strategies of a contractor operating at scale, examining the four critical pillars: cash management, governance, data, and leadership. Through a candid analysis, we'll explore what key decisions were delayed too long and what was acted on early enough to matter.

Surety is Changing - Is Your Strategy?

Billions of pounds have simply vanished from the market - leaving clients exposed, supply chains destabilised, and growing concern in the industry. The role of surety moves beyond a formality to a meaningful business indicator. This session gives a frank and practical view of the current landscape and how you can positively navigate this as a strategic relationship.

The Morning Review

Networking Coffee Break

Start the day on the right note with a dedicated networking coffee break - take the opportunity to connect with peers, digest the content & meet our sponsors.

Stabilising Construction Businesses Beyond Finance

Surviving a difficult period is one thing, but building a business that never returns to that place is another challenge entirely. For many of us, the last few years have been defined by crisis management - survival mode. This goes beyond financial pressure; it fragments teams, erodes trust, and creates governance gaps that can quietly grow into future problems. This is for those who are out of survival mode but are asking the harder questions: How do we never come back?

What Your Business Needs Before Technology Can Deliver

Construction continues to lag on industry level technological advances, but someday argue that there aren't many platforms specific to the industry & challenges. We all know the offers and features, but there still seems to be a disconnect between the true value and the need for it. In this session, we'll discuss the realities of finding the right tech for you and your business, alongside the business requirements that need to be in place for the tech to come in - it's a two way street.

From Data To Decisions: Making the Numbers Work

Construction has always generated an enormous amount of data from project costs, workforce hours, and material movements - the information is there. But in 2026, the gap between businesses that can act on that data in real time and those still waiting for month-end reports is becoming a genuine competitive edge. This session builds on the conversation started last year about connected data, and takes it a step further - now that more businesses are investing in unified platforms, why are so many still not seeing the decisions get better? It's not just software, it's the business readiness around it - the processes, the people, and the willingness to truly trust and act on what the data is telling you.

The Afternoon Review

Lunch

Enjoy a curated lunch break while making further connections for you and your business.

From Recovery to Reputation: Building Commercial Trust That Lasts

In an industry where financial distress is more common than liked, businesses that survive aren't just the ones that fix their numbers - but the ones that win back the trust of the people they work with. This session goes beyond the balance sheet to explore the commercial dimension of rebuilding trust to shaping the narrative around the business recovery. Because in construction right now, credibility is currency.

The Developers View: How Can We Reduce Risk

Join this session to break down the reality of what banks, lenders, and investors are looking for beyond the numbers. As we know, investment is more than just money. With an increased eye on the governance, management, and workflow predictability, finance leaders are more responsible than just collating the report. It's crucial to have transparency and dip your fingers into operations, commercial, and so much more to effectively assess investment viability.

What CFO's Can't Afford to Get Wrong: Joint & Several Liability

IR35 isn't just a tax issue - it's a business risk hiding in plain sight. The stakes have never been higher, with misclassification leading to liability throughout your workforce, projects, and even reputation. In this session, we will cut through the complexity of this to examine the real liability facing businesses with contractor reclassification changes.

Cross Industry Intelligence: Lessons from Outside Construction

Construction is on the cusp of a risk management revolution — and the roadmap already exists. From aerospace to manufacturing, other industries have cracked the code on managing complexity, protecting margins, and anticipating risk. This session deliberately steps outside construction to explore those proven playbooks and ask: how do we bring the best of them into our industry?

Scaling Without Breaking

Scaling at the wrong moment, or in the wrong way, doesn't just slow down business but could break it entirely. Growth can happen in many ways before it's externally seen to the industry. This session is for those looking for the "green flags" and understanding if you truly are ready for scaling.

The Must Do's for the Next 12 Months

As we've heard, the pressures on Construction finance professionals are stacking up - regulatory change, workforce instability, project risk, and rising costs. None of these are new conversations, but the urgency is different now. This session cuts straight to what matters most: no more deferring, no more waiting, this is the roadmap for the next twelve months.

Closing Remarks

Join us as we wrap the day with final remarks from Andrew Curtin, Founder of Construction Wave.