29 March is finally here – although we are now to overshoot that deadline for exiting the EU by two weeks at the very least – it’s fair to say that many sectors are facing something of a Rumsfeldian prognosis: we have our known knowns, our unknowns knowns, and we have our unknown unknowns. And of course, it’s not as though the mists will clear immediately we leave the EU (assuming that we do leave) – absent of a crystal ball or a time machine, ongoing uncertainty will be the order of the day for some time to come. 

What’s important in times like these is the ability to be agile and to adapt. For us at Wates, one of the big changes we have introduced over the past year is accelerating our shift to offsite construction. Take schools, for instance. We have an order book of over £525m. Around 60% of this is now through offsite construction, and that will continue to grow. Cost, time and quality considerations all point towards offsite – our company may have been one of the early adopters in the market but others are starting to cotton on. 

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