Construction projects don’t just face design and build challenges - they face supply chain realities that shape everything from programme certainty to project viability.

In this episode of Hard Hat Talks, Kenneth Martin is joined by Greig Denham of Moda Ceramics to discuss the mounting pressures affecting construction suppliers and the wider industry. From global sourcing disruptions and logistics bottlenecks to manufacturing energy costs and evolving procurement risks, the conversation explores how these factors are reshaping specification decisions, pricing stability, and delivery timelines across the sector.

Greig explains why suppliers are increasingly becoming strategic project partners rather than late-stage procurement decisions, and why early collaboration between designers, contractors, and manufacturers is now essential to avoid redesign, substitutions, and costly delays.

Whether you are an architect, developer, contractor, or consultant, this episode offers valuable insights into navigating procurement uncertainty and building more resilient project delivery strategies.

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What You’ll Learn

• The real supply chain pressures affecting UK construction

• How manufacturing costs are driving pricing volatility

• Why procurement timelines are becoming longer and more complex

• The risks created by late specification decisions

• How early supplier engagement improves project certainty

• Practical steps to strengthen procurement resilience

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00:00 Introduction
02:10 Supplier perspective on industry challenges
05:40 Global sourcing and logistics pressures
10:00 Energy costs and manufacturing pricing
14:20 Programme impacts from supply disruption
18:30 Specification timing risks
23:10 Early supplier engagement benefits
28:00 Collaboration across project teams
32:20 Industry outlook

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Skilled trades are quietly disappearing from modern construction - but at what cost?

In this episode of Hard Hat Talks, Kenneth Martin sits down with Scott Reid of Stratum Masonry to explore how skills shortages are affecting build quality, sustainability, and long-term performance across the built environment.

From masonry and traditional craftsmanship to modern construction pressures, Scott shares practical insight into the challenges facing training, apprenticeships and site delivery. The discussion highlights why skills matter just as much as materials, technology and regulation - and why ignoring this issue risks creating long-term problems for clients, designers and contractors alike.

A worthwhile listen for architects, developers and construction professionals concerned with quality, longevity and the future of skilled work in the UK construction industry.

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What You’ll Discover from This Podcast

• Why the skills shortage threatens specialist trades across the UK
• Why the apprenticeship model is under strain. Insights into how block-release programs, cashflow pressures and SME capacity issues are impacting the next generation of tradespeople.
• Talented craftsmen are still essential despite digital disruption. A discussion about why hands-on skillsets remain future-proof even as technology reshapes the industry.
• How poor early information and tender documentation can derail projects. Stories revealing how gaps in surveying and specification lead to overruns, disputes and redesigns.
• Why procurement complexity and accreditation overload hurt specialist contractors. Reflections on how multiple compliance schemes and procurement hurdles make life harder for SMEs.
• The risk of losing historic buildings through poor restoration incentives. Scott explains why many heritage assets are left to decay when funding and viability models don’t stack up.
• The importance of collaboration between architects and specialist trades. A clear case for engaging experts early to reduce risk, cost and project friction.

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Podcast Timeline

00:00 – Introduction to Scott Reid and Stratum Masonry

02:10 – Scott’s journey from apprentice to business owner

05:45 – The reality of running a specialist trade business

09:30 – Apprenticeships: demand, cost, and sustainability challenges

14:10 – Skills shortages and workforce retention

18:20 – Lowest-price tendering and its long-term impact

23:40 – Procurement frameworks and compliance overload

28:30 – Heritage masonry and restoring historic buildings

34:10 – Why early specialist engagement matters

38:50 – The future of craftsmanship in construction

43:20 – Final reflections and advice for the industry

How did well-intentioned housing policy make Scotland’s rental market tighter rather than fairer?In this episode of Hard Hat Talks, host Kenneth Martin sits down with Chris Cockburn, Business Development Manager at Let-It, to unpack one of the most misunderstood elements of Scotland’s housing discussion: how well-intentioned rent control policies can shrink the rental market rather than stabilise it.

Chris draws on decades of experience in the private rented sector to explain why the real driver of housing pain isn’t the cost of rent, but the lack of supply. Rather than simply debating rent levels, this episode reframes the conversation around the system design of housing - and how policy decisions shape long-term investment, landlord behaviour, and tenant access.

They explore how:

• Proposed and existing rent controls can make the rental market less investable, pushing small and long-term landlords out of the sector.
• A shrinking supply of rental homes increases competition and can paradoxically put upward pressure on rents.
• Regulation and professionalisation, while improving safety and standards, have also raised entry barriers for new landlords.
• Planning delays, regulatory uncertainty and taxation shifts influence market viability, investor confidence and the pace of delivery.
• The private rented sector (PRS) could be part of the solution - if treated as a stable, long-term housing resource rather than a risk-laden asset class.
• Far from a simple economic or political back-and-forth, this conversation highlights that the housing crisis is a supply problem shaped by regulation, investment decisions, planning systems, and market confidence.

Whether you’re an architect, developer, policy maker, landlord or someone passionate about housing outcomes, this episode gives you a grounded, pragmatic lens on why housing supply matters more than prices in the long run - and what could happen if that balance isn’t restored.

This is a conversation moves beyond headlines - and into the mechanics that really shape where people live and how communities thrive.

🎧 Tune in now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts - and subscribe for more expert-led discussions that matter to architects, developers, and the broader built environment community.