Episodes

  • 194: Graphene, Late payment law and Plant hire profits

    194: Graphene, Late payment law and Plant hire profits
    Jan 21 2026
    With the demise of Versarien, the company behind Cementene, Bishop & Taylor discuss whether graphene admixtures will ever take root in the construction industry. They also talk about the landmark Supreme Court ruling in the case of Providence v Hexagon and a young plant hire company in the northeast making a tidy 40% pre-tax profit margin.
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    46 mins
  • 193: Regulating Professions, Procurement and Chiefs of Staff

    193: Regulating Professions, Procurement and Chiefs of Staff
    Jan 7 2026
    The Single Construction Regulator Prospectus dropped shortly before Christmas – with some astonishing content. And the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has published the interim report of its civil engineering market study. Much food for thought here for Bishop & Taylor to discuss. And, prompted by a new appointment at Kier, they ponder: what does a chief of staff actually do?
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    53 mins
  • 192: Review of the Year 2025

    192: Review of the Year 2025
    Dec 10 2025
    Were you paying attention in 2025 or closing your eyes at the back of the classroom? Bishop & Taylor are here to remind you of some of the UK construction industry news highlights of the year, or maybe tell you what you missed.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • 191: The Budget, Octavius and Komatsu

    191: The Budget, Octavius and Komatsu
    Nov 27 2025
    After a brief look at Birmingham City’s bonkers stadium plan, Bishop & Tayor discuss this week’s budget news, RSK’s latest acquisition and major developments in plant and tool hire, including the sale of Marubeni-Komatsu and the repositioning of Brandon Hire Group
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    56 mins
  • 190: COP 30 and CPD, the price of being a professional

    190: COP 30 and CPD, the price of being a professional
    Nov 12 2025
    With the latest UN Conference of the Parties (COP) taking place in Brazil, Bishop & Taylor ruminate on aspects of sustainability, including a warning from RICS of “clear signs of fatigue and uncertainty”. They also discuss the trend for construction trades to seek professional status, and whether they are prepared for the lifetime commitment to continuing professional development (CPD) that it must surely entail.
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    44 mins
  • 189: Publicity, Plant theft and Cement

    189: Publicity, Plant theft and Cement
    Oct 29 2025
    Topics discussed this week include a new film from Gilbert Ash, the Louvre jewellery heist, a poorly attended parliamentary debate on cement, and the binning of plant-theft legislation.
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    52 mins
  • 188: HSS, Insulation and Gold plating

    188: HSS, Insulation and Gold plating
    Oct 15 2025
    In this episode Bishop & Taylor discuss the break up of tool hire group HSS, the external wall insulation scandal and the cost of gold (or should that be green?) plating the Lower Thames Crossing project
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    44 mins
  • 187: New towns, Gatwick and piling records

    187: New towns, Gatwick and piling records
    Oct 1 2025
    Bishop & Taylor discuss the government’s latest plans for new towns, Gatwick Airport expansion and what might very well be Britain’s best supported building – is 17,000 piles a record?
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    51 mins