Wednesday 15th March 2023: I am attending MIPIM for the first time, as MD for our UK South business unit. During my first six months in the role I have been analysing the UK South construction market and exploring new opportunities to grow our business.
The way that we work has changed forever. But this has not had an impact on the growth of the commercial sector in London worth over £400 million, according to latest figures by Barbour API.
Our UK South business is well equipped to deliver commercial projects in central London. We have a long-standing history of completing quality projects in London with demonstrable experience including, Royal Academy of Arts, Air Street Office development and 50 Bolsover Street.
Breaking New Ground
Sisk is at the forefront of change to meet our customers’ needs and we recently completed the internal role out of our new corporate strategy: Breaking New Ground. We will be discussing this in further detail with our clients over the coming months.
At the heart of our new strategy are five key strategic priorities over the next 3-5 years. Digital Transformation is one of our key pillars and this will propel our business forward to a new era of performance by integrating cutting-edge technologies and digital competencies.
Incorporation of embodied carbon tracking
The Sisk Digital Project Delivery (DPD) team has reached an advanced level in digital and sustainable building practices. This was evident on our most recent project Wembley Park project, The Robinson.
Our DPD team conducted a pilot testing embodied carbon report of The Robinson building. It found that the Life Cycle Assessment using BIM models were far more beneficial than using conventional methods. Traditionally, it is assumed that steel and concrete are the biggest carbon contributors biggest of a building, but we found that operations and materials used for mechanical systems were the biggest carbon contributor over the building’s life cycle.
We presented the findings to our client, Quintain and we have now incorporated this on our current live Wembley Park projects, NE02 and NE03, to ensure that we reduce carbon emissions on our current schemes.
Modern Methods of Construction
In Greater London, Sisk is nearing completion of a landmark new workplace for Santander in Milton Keynes. Unity Place will be a centre for digital banking innovation that nurtures collaboration and staff wellbeing. The eight-storey building will provide 5,000 workstations arranged across four blocks. Local businesses and the public will be encouraged to use the ground floor facilities including an ‘urban market’, retail outlets and health facilities.
Modern Methods of Construction is one of our five key priorities of our new strategy. We offer clients a flexible range of innovative off-site and on-site solutions and these methods have been key to us achieving programme at Unity Place.
Sisk coordinated a successful performance testing and visual mock up installation of the façade. Unity Place consists of 1,643 unitised pieces of façade that were manufactured offsite and assembled the glazing and frame components into portable units. These arrived at site ready to be installed into place.
The building is designed to achieve a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating for its environmental performance and a WELL 'Gold' Certification, which is a measure of the building's impact on health and wellbeing.
People and Culture
This is one of our key strategic priorities and we will embed an inclusive, compelling and energising people experience that attracts, develops and retains our people. Wembley Park has been an incubator for growing our top talent at Sisk, many of whom who are now managing many of our major projects across London.
Off the success of our long-term partnership with Quintain we want to work with repeat clients that have the vision to work collaboratively to achieve the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.
If you would like to discuss any UK South business opportunities with me at MIPIM, please connect with me on Linkedin.
Ger Hayes,
MD, UK South
John Sisk & Son
