The Main Stage opens at 10:00 with a welcome from Paul McDevitt, the Summit’s programme co-ordinator, followed by Alan Smith, managing director of headline sponsor SPI Piling, and Peter Reekie, chief executive of Scottish Futures Trust and chair of the Scottish Construction Leadership Forum.

The stage is organised around four themes:

• Commercial: Lisa Goldie (Scottish Government), Professor Bill Minnis (former Dean of the Business School, Stockton University), Joseph Kane (Royal London) and Mark Farmer (Cast Consultancy and the Construction Leadership Council)
• Digital: Gordon Mitchell (Wholus), Dave Peacock (AtkinsRéalis) and Douglas Aitken (Lochlie Construction)
• Sustainability: Sarah Peterson (Atelier Ten and ACE Scotland), Helen Melone (Heat Networks Scotland) and Dr Philip Salter (Ureaka)
• Recruitment & Retention: Professor Steve Petrie (Nexos), Joseph Trodden (Powering Futures) and Michelle Reid (IOM Consulting)

The midday highlight is the Scottish Construction Summit Keynote from Steven Boyd MBE, followed by a Q&A. Later, a panel chaired by Paul McDevitt lets delegates put questions to many of the Main Stage speakers.

Scottish Housing Summit Stage: retrofit, policy and delivery

The dedicated housing stage opens with a Sustainable Retrofitting panel chaired by Loraine Sweeney of Supply Chain Scotland. It follows residential retrofit projects from client to contractor, with contributions from Home Group Scotland, Whole Life Consultants, Collective Architecture, M.C.E Scotland and Procast.

Its centrepiece is a More Homes Scotland panel, chaired by Professor Jocelyne Fleming of the CIOB, which asks what the housing sector needs from the programme. She is joined by:

• Liz Hamilton (AS Homes (Scotland) and Briar Homes)
• Gillian Lavety (Sanctuary Scotland)
• David Raine (Homes for Scotland)
• James Mackay (Persimmon Homes)

Between the panels, presentations come from Arneil Johnston, HAUS Collective, John Gilbert Architects, Insite Group, Turley, Vital Energi, SSEN Transmission, Heat Network Scotland, Kensa and NASC. A Morton Fraser MacRoberts session is also scheduled, with speakers to be confirmed.

Scottish Construction Now Stage: law, risk and practical delivery

The Scottish Construction Now Stage covers the legal, commercial and operational questions facing contractors and supply chain firms.

The legal programme begins with two sessions from MFMac and Axiom Advocates. The first covers hidden defects and time bar rules in Scotland. The second covers extended liabilities under the Building Safety Act and the Commercial Payments Bill. A midday HKA panel brings together Robertson Construction, Axiom Advocates, MFMac and an experienced property director.

Elsewhere on the stage:

• Bidding and finance: Andrew Morrison of Aspire Bidding presents “AI-Enabled, Human-Led: The Future of Winning Bids and Tenders”, alongside sessions from the Supplier Development Programme, Channel Finance and Will Rudd.
• Circularity: Alex Reeves of Zero Waste Scotland presents the five-year Roadmap to Circularity in the Built Environment, drawing on the Built
• Environment Mission Board and the CirCoFin feasibility study, with a look ahead to future Circular Construction Hubs in Scotland.
• Practical delivery: Sessions from PEFC, SSEN Transmission, NASC, ScotHoist, Converge, Virtuoso Partners, Pvotal Consultancy with Heriot-Watt, and a Global HSE Group speaker to be confirmed.
• Hard Hat Talks Podcast: A live session with Kenneth Martin of Block Architects and other speakers to be confirmed.

Headline sponsor SPI Piling is joined by Axiom Advocates and MFMac LLP as legal sponsors, with NASC, Scot Hoist Limited, Supplier Development Programme and Advance Construction confirmed as event sponsors.

Register for free here.