“As a chief executive of one entity, your ability to influence the industry is quite minimal. You’re just a pawn in the game.” Andy Steele is explaining why he has decided to take on the chairman’s role at Build UK, the industry trade group credited with having played a key role in helping construction to navigate its way through the pandemic last spring, when the prospect of the first looming lockdown sent a collective shudder through it.

Steele, who is also the chief executive of Osborne, is honest enough about the task ahead and pulls no punches when discussing the state of UK construction right now. “The business model is broken,” he says.

“You can’t have an industry that can’t invest, has an ageing workforce, businesses constantly going out of business, while those who remain struggle from losses to a little bit of profit and you have a supply chain that’s fragmented and fragile.” As in-trays go, then, Steele’s seems frighteningly full – and he is only a few weeks into the job.

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