One month into 2014 and we already know that Welsh construction is better than the rest of the UK. The opportunities for all contractors, designers, specialists, engineers and suppliers are increasing and what’s more we have the facts to prove it now.

One of the characteristics of leaders, in business, politics and even in construction is self belief. But sometimes despite all your best instincts, you do begin to doubt yourself until your convictions are validated by data. The statistics from the Welsh Government and the UK Office of National Statistics prove what we have seen signs of for some time – construction in Wales is picking up. More importantly, it’s not just improving, but outperforming the rest of the UK. Again, indicating what our CEW Awards, Demonstration Projects and Exemplars have shown – Wales leads the UK construction sector.

What we must do now is to ensure we do not become over confident and move away from the principles that have allowed Welsh construction to reach the current level of performance. To sustain the growth, to make certain we build projects of long term value we have to work collaboratively. We have to take advantage of BIM. We have to adhere to integrated team working. We have to pursue best practice. Most importantly, we have to do it together. That’s how we will create a world class built environment for Wales.