Richard Pickett: 0:00

And I think, going back to the 90s, there was a lot of redundancy in the time and yeah, it was funny. Actually at the time my dad said to me I don't want you to work in construction. But ironically, both my wife and I have ended up in construction and actually I love it and I know why he gave that advice at the time. But I think the advice at the time was that in many different careers if you see what I mean I think the construction industry has changed quite a little bit in terms of diversity and inclusion and sites work better and things like that.

Richard Pickett: 0:33

I'm very passionate about sustainability. I started doing sustainability as environmental science when I was at university and it sort of came up as a choice. Was I going to go down a certain route? Somebody suggested it, um, and it's the, the different facets of sustainability that sort of get me out of bed in the morning. I'm very passionate about social value, leaving a legacy in local communities, but also the, the benefits of um, apprenticeships, um, around the training that uh, you know that can bring to young people, um, but apprenticeship generally for for others within organizations to to upskill, um, and then I sort of moved into into the um into the energy industry, mainly at the time with a what they called a regional electricity company.

Richard Pickett: 1:15

It was before deregulation um, and we used to spend the money around energy efficiency stands performance. We were working with local authorities to insulate their buildings, basically to deliver carbon savings or energy savings, as though it was managed at the time, did that for a few years, went through two or three consultancies, project management companies, and then had the opportunity to move into construction as a framework manager. They wanted people to who were able to work with local authorities and the business at the time was looking at frameworks and procurement, and so I was able to bring with local authorities the business at the time was looking at frameworks and procurement, so I was able to bring those transferable skills into construction and in the about around 2015, moved across within Wilmot's to deliver their head of sustainability or the head of legacy at the time, which moved into the head of sustainability, and that was very much focused around in the end, looking at their now or never strategy as well.

Darren Evans: 2:08

It's interesting that you talk about sustainability being something that gets you out of bed in the morning, which is a really, really broad topic, isn't it? Yeah, it is.

Richard Pickett: 2:18

It's a broad church. There's certain subjects within sustainability that I find less interesting and less exciting, but I think, certainly from my point of view, subjects within sustainability that I find less interesting and less exciting. Um, but I think you know, certainly from my point of view, um, carbon at the moment as a as a topic, um, you know, just today, um, there's been an article that the last 12 months we've been about above 1.5 degrees. And how are we going to get there? So you know, the only way we are going to achieve this is by addressing the carbon question and moving towards decarbonizing. What we do every day, whether that's retrofitting a building, building a new building, traveling to work, there's a wake up call and a call to arms, I think, basically around the subject.

Darren Evans: 2:59

You mentioned earlier on that sustainability is important to you and this came through in the degree that you did at university. Yeah, um, what would you say? Was the, the, the spark that ignited this fire within you?

Richard Pickett: 3:15

for from my past, uh, I think when I was just coming towards the end of my a levels and you know, at the time everybody went to university it's. It's a little bit different now, certainly with my kids, but yeah, I was looking at things like geography and those sort of humanities and then it was my mum who said to me somebody suggested you look at environmental science. I went, okay, let's have a look at that. So we didn't have the internet then.

Darren Evans: 3:38

So you got your mum to think right. The wisdom was in your mum.

Richard Pickett: 3:41

Yeah, she did. The wisdom was in your mind. Yeah, she did. So I said, okay, so let's have a look at into it. So I reached out to the market and not the market. I reached out and got a bit more information. I thought, well, this actually covers a lot of different, a lot of different subjects, things that were a bit more closer to my heart.

Richard Pickett: 3:58

And really, once I got into university, I went to Brighton. At the time it was the energy bits that really I remember sitting in in one of my first year's lectures, um, just by the watts building it was, and sitting there going this stuff is interesting, this stuff is, you know, we were talking about how buildings go together, how we can make, you know, improve u values and, um, how we can make them more efficient, how we can do various different things, how we can make them more efficient, how we can do various different things to heating systems, and I'm thinking it's always clicking in my head. So, yeah, as I've moved through, I did a dissertation around sort of energy efficiency. It was all around energy profiling believe it or not, our local scout hut and the improvements that we could make to that.

Darren Evans: 4:51

And, yeah, we went through and came out and the rest is sort of history from there to be fair and the scout hut.

Richard Pickett: 4:53

What happened to that? Well, the scout hut still stands and I'm still a scout leader. So there we are. I'm still involved with scouting. So, yeah, we had probably didn't make a many of the improvements at the time, but you know, things like windows have been replaced and roofs have been upgrading the fullness of times and boilers have been replaced with more inefficiency outcomes, um, but it's still delivering what it should do, which is a great resource to the local community.

Darren Evans: 5:16

So fantastic, yeah maybe an invitation to uh, to your bosses somewhere of uh, of some time, effort and energy to help improve the the thermal properties of uh, of the scout hut indeed it may be a little.

Richard Pickett: 5:29

A little project, a little community project, maybe a little bit of a social value focus. How long have you been in scouts, then? I've been scouting. I've never left really. I joined as a cub in the early 80s and I've gone through uh, every uh level. Um, it's changed a little bit. Um, you know, it was just lads when I joined. We now have, uh, you know, girl scouts as well. My father is the chairman of the local scout group, um and my kids are young leaders and my daughter is a is an explorer scout. My son and daughter have been all through scouting as well.

Richard Pickett: 6:03

So I think scouting provides um kids with the ability to get out and enjoy themselves, do stuff that maybe they can't do at school because of various you know they're reluctant to run those sorts of activities.

Richard Pickett: 6:15

Um, some of the things that I've got out of it personally, out of um Things I've learned you meet different people, you run an evening, things don't quite go to plan, so you have to think on your feet. It all helps you in your working life. Plus, you can bring stuff from work that you've learned and you can teach the kids or things along those lines. So there's lots of opportunity, and whether we're out going camping and we still light fires, we still do all that. Every child likes to light a fire. I've never known a kid not like to light a fire. Marshmallows over the fire, all that sort of thing, camping under canvas we do it all but at the end of the day, it's about providing that experience that they may not get elsewhere and providing them with access to the outside and and, at the end of the day, life skills an appreciation, I'd imagine, for nature as well and how things all go together.

Richard Pickett: 7:14

Yeah, I think, yeah, if you you go back to, you know the the sort of the badges that you do you still get your what we call activity badges. A lot of them are focused around um, uh, ecology and nature with. They don't actually use those words. They're they're, they're softer, but yeah, there's, there's staged badges around you know, appreciating that and going out. So, yeah, it delivers and I think it's. It goes back to the, the halian days of when they did the first camp from brown sea island. That was all about appreciating nature and getting out there and accessing things that kids didn't normally have access to.

Darren Evans: 7:48

And so you mentioned about your children being involved in skates. Was that a conscious thing from yourself and your?

Richard Pickett: 7:55

wife. Yeah, I think so. They started as beavers. Actually, my daughter started with the Girl Guides as a rainbow and then came into Cubs, mainly because my mother wasides as a rainbow and then came into Cubs mainly because my mother was involved with guiding. But they came into Cubs and, yeah, and my nephews as well came through as well.

Darren Evans: 8:15

It's a family affair.

Richard Pickett: 8:16

Yeah, I suppose, from a personal point of view, it was about not wanting them to leave. The organisation struggles with recruitment of young leaders and you know I'm not as young as I used to be and I have to bring young people through, to bring young owners, and my daughter relates to the girls that are in the um, in in the group, so you know they look up to her in terms of providing them her with guidance and support and things like that. So you know it's all about providing them and also, I think, young people. It's important for them to do a bit of volunteering once in a while. You know, my son brings has got a mate who he went to school with and they now run the games together and and and things along those lines, whereas my daughter does other bits and pieces as well. So I think it's important that they come along on a on a thursday night and and help out, and they're gradually getting more and more involved and running things, and for them it's organization skills as well. So yeah, it does them good.

Darren Evans: 9:12

I love that. So it sounds like your parents have been involved in Scouts, and I can see a link between nature and the way that society works and the environment. You mentioned about geography and so on and so on. I'm just wondering who was inspirational or a key figure in your life that you think has helped you to get where you are today?

Richard Pickett: 9:36

That's an interesting one. That is, I suppose, from a high-level, big-name person, I think Not necessarily inspiring me, but I like what he has to say, but I think he inspires a lot of people around what he says and I think he has the ability to come on. He's, he's a David Attenborough. At the end of the day, you you can't deny what he has to say and what he presents on the television, making our natural world what it is and what we have to do to protect it. I think that he's a great orator in what he does.

Richard Pickett: 10:10

In a professional point of view, particularly in recent years when I was working at Wilmot Dixon, somebody who I've again personally worked with on various bits and pieces in terms of conferences, but also asked to speak at events, was Jonathan Porritt, founder of Formula Future. He was a non-executive director of Wimbledon, but somebody who would give his time to come and support your initiatives within the business, understand whether you were presenting to the apprentices and the trainees about their future in the business, but also heard him speak and convince some of the most cynics in the business around why they need to take action on climate change, um, and moving it forward. And his book hope in hell is a really good read in terms of putting that one forward. So certainly in recent years, those, those would be those sort of individuals that have sort of pushed it, pushed it forward, if you see what I mean it's interesting that you make mention those two people, because I think, when I look at them at least, they're quite unassuming individuals.

Darren Evans: 11:17

They're not loud and in your face, yep, um, they're not full of fanfare and bells and whistles, but yet the influence that they have is is very pointed and, and I think it can be very broad also. Yeah, um, but um, I think that's interesting that those two have had a a profound effect.

Richard Pickett: 11:36

Yeah, not just on you, but I'm talking, yeah, many people I think, when we've heard, certainly, jon speaking many times in many forums, talking to some very senior people and being able to pitch a message of what they need to do around climate change, and pitching the same message with the same communication, but at their, at the level, so that they can understand that they're actually picking the mentor up and where they need to, you know, place the their shirt for a better day, if you see what I mean.

Darren Evans: 12:15

So it, uh, it is, yeah, very, very, very inspirational and so, if you're thinking about the people that you inspire, what would that look like for you?

Richard Pickett: 12:26

For me, inspiring young people and providing them with opportunity and understanding of my knowledge. So I suppose in previous times I've had the privilege of being able to look after not look after, but manage the trainee program. For example, wilmot Dixon took great pride in providing support, whether that's through mentoring, providing advice on careers and things along those lines, going through the selection process, coming up with the formula that we would use to bring those young people in and also providing them the forum also to communicate their messages to the senior leaders as well. I can stand there and talk to the senior leaders of a business, but actually a message can be delivered sometimes a lot harder and a lot clearer if it's a young person who's maybe worried about doing it. But actually I think sometimes those senior leaders listen harder and uh, and clearer, uh, when it's somebody along those lines.

Richard Pickett: 13:33

So I think for me, inspiration for for young people is where it is. After all, they're the ones that got up. They're going to be the ones that pick up the mantle from you know, when I leave the industry or move on to do something else, um, and I want them to be in a good place and with the tools and the the skills that they need to move, move their careers forward. Um, and I get no more, but I get so much pleasure out of watching you know, the trainees that I've supported in the past getting promoted, whether you popped up on linkedin. Someone may not even be in touch with anymore, but you know, know, it's. It's really interesting to think you just might've been a little bit of inspiration in their life. Yeah, it's fantastic.

Darren Evans: 14:12

Good. So um thinking about now the time that you spent um at university, um throughout your journey to get to where you are, what would you say? The kind of two or three key principles or foundational um elements that are needed or that you found useful in your life to get to where you are?

Richard Pickett: 14:37

I think it's making sure you've got a stable background to um approach. You know I'm very fortunate that, uh, you know I was when I went to university. Actually I sort of lived at home, um, but also and I was had a part-time job and it was mainly around the the fact at the time that, um, my father was out of work because he made redundant um, oh, I'm sorry about that, I didn't expect that um and uh. So I decided to live at home at the time and I would commute over to Brighton every day and I think if you've got that stable support from the people around you, it really helps you to focus your studies in terms of what you need to achieve and along those lines. So I think that's one of the main things. It's also having a subject that you're passionate and you want to understand as well.

Richard Pickett: 15:30

I think at the time environmental science was a little bit up and coming. We're talking the early 90s and you could potentially see where it was going to go. I don't think back then we could have anticipated where we are now, if you see what I mean. But the thing around it was that there was some real good subjects, particularly around sort of energy and and the carbon side even it wasn't sort of carbon then it was sort of energy efficiency and saving energy and bits along that. But it was stuff it was. It was subjects that got me out of bed and and then really so I think the critical thing is nice stable background around studying and having a nice subject that you can understand and move forward with seems like you've got a good relationship with your dad.

Richard Pickett: 16:11

Yeah, yeah, well well, it's uh, it's quite bizarre really, because I was, uh, I worked with him at wilmot dixon as well. Um, so he, he was there 10 years. Uh, I, I joined in 2007 and I also had the pleasure of working my wife at wilmot dixon as well. So, uh, we three of us all worked at wilmot's at the time.

Darren Evans: 16:30

So there's the theme the family's involved in the scouts. The family's involved in wilmot dixon yes, yeah, you never know strange things have happened. Yeah, so just picked up on a bit of um emotion there and I think is it a surprise emotion in reference to your dad becoming unemployed and being very redundant and and you deciding intentionally to to be at home.

Richard Pickett: 16:55

Talk to me around that um, I think, yeah, at the time, uh, it was, yeah, it was the early 90s, I think. Um, it was, it was money, it was, yeah, we uh, it was a case of being able to afford to go to university, I think. And I felt what I could do was I had a part-time job, I was working for Sainsbury's, and I thought, well, I can still do that, I can buy a car, commute. I knew somebody was already going to be commuting to Brighton and it just sort of came together and worked. Brighton was doing a course that was ticked all the boxes, if you see what I mean, and actually in the end it it worked out all right. Um, you know, my dad was out of work for six months. He then went off to work for, um, uh, kia, if I remember right.

Darren Evans: 17:43

There we go. I knew it was a name, Henry Jones. I think he was at the time.

Richard Pickett: 17:48

So, yeah, that was where it was and I think, going back to the 90s, there was a lot of redundancy in the time. It was funny actually. At the time, my dad said to me I don't want you to work in construction, but ironically, both my wife and I have ended up in construction and actually both my both my wife and I have ended up in construction and actually I love it. Uh, and I know why he gave that advice at the time. Um, but I think the advice at the time was that in many different careers, if you see what I mean, I think the, the, the, the construction industry has changed quite a little bit in terms of diversity and inclusion, and you know, sites work better and things like that. So, yeah, yeah, I've a great relationship with my dad. We're into our normal subjects of cars and things along those lines. So, um, yeah and uh, he's always likes to know what's going on the, the old places in terms of work. He keeps an interest in it. Um, he's retired now he is indeed.

Darren Evans: 18:41

Yes, yeah yeah, yeah, it's great that you see as well that that has directly impacted in him where you are today. Indeed, lots of people that I've spoken to, not just on this podcast, but they they attribute the position and perspective that they have, the resilience that they have, back to those early childhood moments where they've had a foundation that they've been able to build upon yes, oh yeah, without a doubt.

Richard Pickett: 19:04

Without a doubt, I don't, I, I, I certainly and I think my brother would say the same is we're not where we are without the, the loving background that my parents gave us. End of, really it's food.

Darren Evans: 19:15

So how does that feature in for you then as a, as a parent?

Richard Pickett: 19:18

you've got a few children, a couple of children. I've got two children. I've got one of each. I'm very fortunate I've got my son's the eldest. He's 19. And, as ever, I've pushed him in the direction that he wants to. He's doing an apprenticeship, my daughter's at college and she's doing her A-levels and she's also thinking once I've done my A-levels, don't want to go to university, want to go down the apprentice route. She can see her brother working um and and earning money. So I was gonna say is.

Darren Evans: 19:48

Does she just see him earning?

Richard Pickett: 19:49

the money, yeah, earning the money, but I think what he can, he can see he's earning and learning at the same time. Yeah, um, and the, the, the value that you know it brings him, coming back and and explaining some of the customer experiences he's had, some of the, the challenges that he's had to sort out the fact that the big bosses turn up and want to be given a look around when he's in the middle of things. Stuff has to be brought in and it has to be ordered in and it takes a bit of a challenge for him to. Yeah, he comes home and says, oh, this has happened today, that's happened today, and then he has to go off and do a bit of studying, when he goes off to the learning center, for example. So, yeah, he's really pushing forward with that apprenticeship and it's great to see him buzzing. So, yeah, it's useful.

Darren Evans: 20:35

And then. So how does that show up then, with the experience that you've had and the way that you've been brought up with the idea that yourself and your wife are going to be bringing up and raising your children although I appreciate that a 19 year old doesn't need the same type of attention that maybe a five-year-old does but I'm just wondering how that shows up for you, I think, uh, when you've got, uh, children.

Richard Pickett: 20:56

They're in their late teens, um, you have to give them an element of freedom. Um, you know you're paranoid about when they're going out. Yeah, my daughter's learning to drive at the moment. Um, you know, I remember that when my son was learning to drive as well, and then the first time they take their car out, and you know, just the other day he had to drive to Milton Keynes, to the, to the learning center, and it's sort of okay, um, and it's, I suppose, from us, but not far enough to continue to nurture and I suppose, in the end, like any parent, you've got to let the child go, if you see what I mean. But they haven't got any plans at the moment to move out. So, yeah, not too bad if I'm honest, and you've got no plans to kick them out.

Richard Pickett: 21:41

No, I think the kicking out probably happened before they decide to move out that's fun, so would you get?

Darren Evans: 21:52

um, would you have any uh thoughts or advice for someone that is maybe struggling, or feeling like they're struggling, to uh be a parent of teenagers and trying to support and help and navigate as the teenager tries to find their place in the world, because being a teenager now is very different than it was in the 90s.

Richard Pickett: 22:18

Yeah, Advice for parenting. Parents don't get a manual. It's not like buying a car. I think you have to listen to your teenagers. You have to appreciate what gets them out of bed when they do finally get out of bed in the morning, what their interests in. Try to understand their friend groups as best you can. From our point of view is trying to make your home as welcoming to those friend groups as you can. From our point of view, it's trying to make your home as welcoming to those friend groups as you can and try to provide them with sound advice on what they might want to discuss. They might bring some harebrained ideas in, but actually sometimes, if you unpick those ideas, some of those ideas are good ideas. So I think, as a parent of teenagers, you have to let them try to flourish and and on the ideas when they can flourish and then watch them succeed.

Richard Pickett: 23:13

Um, and you know it's, it's a bit like our daughter, with her a levels she's got. You know she's got some tough subjects that she's doing. But you know, in, in, she come, will come home and she will tell us the the ins and the outs of the english law system system in terms of what she's learned that day, but that's her way of expressing what she's learned and telling us about how it is and doing her learning process. So, as a parent, you've got as much as you don't want to listen to that at eight o'clock at night and you know you've got to do the shopping online for whatever reason. Online for whatever reason. Actually you have to give that time because actually, as time goes by, when they've left home, in 10 years time, um, you'll probably pine for that experience, if I'm honest.

Richard Pickett: 23:53

Um, so that's. Yeah, some days are good days, other days are bad days. Proudest dad moment um, oh no, there you are. Um proud for my daughter, probably the day she arrived, um, because it was a bit howling, is probably what I would say traumatic birth, very, very traumatic, and it could have turned out a different way. Um, for my son, uh, probably the fact he's got an apprenticeship at audi, because I'm an absolute audi fan. So, yeah, that's probably it.

Darren Evans: 24:25

I'm so sick. Love it. I love that. You know it's uh, it's great. What about proudest? Uh, proudest work moment or career moment for you?

Richard Pickett: 24:33

oh, proudest work moment um. That's, that's, uh, there's. Oh, I'll have to think about that. I don't know.

Richard Pickett: 24:40

We've got, that's fine we've got um trying to think about proudest work moment. Um, there's so many. That's the trouble. Just pick one or you can list a few. There's so many different moments that you can have and I think it's when you achieve great things, and I think, from my point of view, it has to be when we're at Wilmot Dixon.

Richard Pickett: 25:02

And one of the proudest times was we used to do something called a challenge and we would raise money of an annual basis for a local charity, the one in question being Chestnut Tree House in Worthing. Anyone in Sussex will know that charity. What does that charity do? It's a child's, children's hospice, okay, end of life, yeah, yeah, all the way through, really. Of children that are disabled providing respite care, okay, but yeah, all the way through, really, of children that are disabled providing respite care, but, yeah, all the way through to end of life.

Richard Pickett: 25:30

And I think one of the proudest moments was when we'd raised Best Part of £900,000 over a number of years and they recognised us for it, yeah, with a certificate and then that sort of thing. But it was such a collaborative experience of of the entire team, um, in terms of all the different things that we don't you know, we'd, we'd, we'd walked up snowden and we'd walked along the jurassic coast. But other people have done other things, you know, like the good old cake sale and and this and that, but at the end of the day everyone had sort of played their part. So we were everyone was able to say, yeah, we've, I've, I've contributed to, to that 900, 000 pounds worth of of money. So we, we were hoping to get to the million, but unfortunately things changed. We didn't get there. But, um, yeah, very, very proud moment.

Darren Evans: 26:18

Uh, to raise that sort of money, that's fantastic and it's interesting as well that you're saying that the proudest moment for you wasn't actually the thing that you were paid to do, right yeah, no, going to going to work.

Richard Pickett: 26:30

It's great, but I think sometimes, when you've got a great team around you, some of those things that that spin out of of working with others and and people being on the same journey uh, with you as well, makes the the proudest moments, because it it's a, it's a product of a good team, you know, um, in terms of delivering those outcomes for me, I think also some people can get really hung up on the whole capitalist view of things.

Darren Evans: 26:56

But you know, it's just a great example of how a profit-making organization can not just make a difference in the community, as in a hospice, but also have a clear impact in your life as well.

Richard Pickett: 27:09

Yeah, very much. So. I think what was great with the relationship we had with that charity was it wasn't just about raising hard cash. We would go down as teams and we would do gardening and also pulling on our resources to do other things where it might be putting up a new fence or or a few new bollards needed replacing or something along those lines.

Richard Pickett: 27:33

And you know, if, if you, if you can, if you can make it just you know some of these organizations not just necessarily this hospice, but others just struggle to get stuff done. But if, if we can, you know, just say, well, can somebody help us out with this? And they go, yeah, we can do that. It just makes people going through hospices and things like that they want it to look nice and they want to have a good experience and we can help them do that and make the environment so much more friendly. It always feels much better when the bollards aren't falling down and it's all looking well-tended. But sometimes these organizations can't afford it, they don't have the volunteers, but we can get down there and help them out. It's great when people come in. They've got a great smile on their faces, but they're going through maybe quite a hard time moving forward.

Darren Evans: 28:20

So yeah, Fantastic, you mentioned about this concept of time and there are kind of two arguments or two points of view. One of them will say we need more time because we're learning and we need to make sure that things are done right. The other one will say we've not got enough time. We need to run or do things as fast as possible. What would you say is one of the things that would really benefit the industry to try and help us get more output for the time that we've got?

Richard Pickett: 28:49

I suppose I'm a little bit, probably biased, I think, um, in terms of the answer to this question, I think we should be monitoring what we're doing more and getting a greater understanding of our projects quicker, so that we can then make the decisions around, um, how we reduce the carbon, even even if you know at the moment, you know we, everybody can talk about cost of a project and cost per this and cost per that, but actually what's the carbon by this and the carbon by that? Every project in my book, we should be at least counting how much carbon in it, not you know, even even if we don't try to reduce it, let's at least understand what's in that project, if you see what I mean. And then perhaps the next stage is we move on to saying how do we reduce it? Because how can we make improvements if we we don't know what the current situation is? Um, and that's probably one of my frustrations at the moment is where are we now?

Darren Evans: 29:44

I think that's a good question. I think that leads us really well into the demolition zone. Okay, sounds like a plan. Are you ready to do it?

Richard Pickett: 29:50

yeah, let's do it, let's do it and welcome back.

Darren Evans: 29:55

We are now in the demolition zone, so you have constructed three items. For those people that are listening, we've got, um, what appears to be a fairly low-level building closer towards you, richard, and then there's an arch type of shape with two kind of things on the side, holding what looks to be a cylinder in the middle, and then at the front of that it looks like. I don't know you describe it. What does this all?

Richard Pickett: 30:26

mean. So this for me, is construction on a site and representing waste management and the myth that I wanted to present today to you. The shape at the back is the good old famous skip, and the others is the separation that we quite often have across our projects, and, depending how much space you have, will depend how much um separation you have, whether it's, you know, plasterboard, metal, wood and so on and so forth. And the myth I wanted to sort of destroy today is the fact that it's all right, don't worry, um, I can recycle it. Um, and what I want to focus the mind around here is is about resource efficiency and not buying too much. And actually, um, do we need to change stuff and do we need to buy that amount of of stuff or can we reuse other bits and pieces? Um, and making sure we've got resources controlled on projects so that it's not going in the skip? Uh, and we're managing our wastage.

Richard Pickett: 31:22

Um, because it's quite frustrating when you say, well, how are we managing waste? They say, well, it doesn't matter if, if we put. And we're managing our wastage Because it's quite frustrating. When you say, well, how are we managing waste? They say, well, it doesn't matter If we put it, we're going to send it for recycling, and that's the complete wrong way we should be looking at things. It should be no, we've bought enough plasterboard on our site and we've got enough wastage in it, but not sort of 20% wastage or things along those lines. So the myth today is no, it's not all right to recycle, because we should be thinking about resource efficiency at the start.

Darren Evans: 31:54

I love that. So before you think recycle, don't even buy it. Then you don't need to recycle.

Richard Pickett: 32:00

I love it yes, and then if?

Darren Evans: 32:02

you need to recycle. Well, that's your stopgap. That's not the first place to go.

Richard Pickett: 32:07

It is indeed, and I think that's your stopgap. That's not the first place to go. It is indeed, and I think that's where we have to get our mindset at this moment in time, and it relates back to a lot of our conversations today around carbon. If we're manufacturing something, then recycling it and then using it, it's all that extra carbon emissions that are going into it. Carbon emissions that are going into it, um, and it's it's the inefficiencies that you happen as well, because if you're wasting, if you're putting stuff in a skip nine times out of ten, it's already had a bit of a transportation and journey around a project, so people are paying for that to happen and then to put it in the skip and send it on is a significant waste of time, money and and carbon. So, yep, that's my myth today.

Darren Evans: 32:46

Good, well feels like. You've cleared that up. I think the only thing left to do now is to bust it up. Excellent, I will do with one sweep of that and everything flies I love that good. Well, I appreciate your, your insights. I appreciate your uh, your personal story and how that shows up for you, and I'm sure that there's going to be a number of people listening that will be inspired or affected by that in a positive way.

Richard Pickett: 33:14

Well, thank you. Thank you, darren, for the invite to come and speak today. It's been an insight for myself as well. Really enjoyed it. Uh and uh, yeah, maybe we'll do it again soon.

Darren Evans: 33:24

Definitely, definitely. But before you go, just got one last question for you. So the question is that I have is is what one piece of advice would you give to enable us to get to a better place than what we are at the moment? Now, that better place may be within an organization, that better place may be within an industry, may even be within a family, but what one piece of advice would you give that would enable us to get to a better place than where we are at the moment?

Richard Pickett: 33:53

oh, so I'll have to think about that one. What other things are people giving you?

Darren Evans: 33:58

I've never asked that question to anyone else um, oh god, that's really, that's really difficult.

Richard Pickett: 34:07

Um, I think for me, um, in terms of, in terms of what I do on a day-to-day basis, um, it's the advice I would probably give is do you need to do that now? Um, in simple terms of the the climate emergency, um, you know, we've got a lot of people and projects. Things have to happen, um, but actually, how, how best do we deliver that? Um by not knocking it down and moving along in those direction?

Darren Evans: 34:40

so are you saying that, um, that the piece of the piece of advice that you would give is to prioritize, to make sure that the things that you're doing, as in asking that question, do. Does it need to be done now is is the timing right? Is the priority right? Is that what you're saying?

Richard Pickett: 34:55

yeah, I think, uh, you've, you've nailed, you've probably nailed what I'm trying to say is it's about. We have a I suppose we have a society sometimes which is is very now, um, I've got to have it now, I've got to. You know, it's very instant and I think you know this almost goes back to my grandparents, the old mend and make do sort of situation. You know, quite often, in terms of, you know, when my grandparents were alive, you know they would repair stuff and, you know, very rarely went and bought anything new, because they were brought up at a time when rationing was around, uh, and stuff just wasn't available. You know, uh, I, you know, I remember my grandmother when the internet arrived, she could not believe that you could order stuff and it arrived just like that, um, but bless her, you know that that was where we came. So, yeah, I think we have to maybe take a foot a little bit off the pedal and and say to ourselves you know, let's look off the planet a bit more love that fantastic bit of advice I love.

Richard Pickett: 35:55

Thanks again yeah, no problem at all. Thanks for the invite. I've enjoyed it good. Yeah, yeah, it was good. I watched the other two and I went. No, no, I did. I watched the other two and I went. Oh yeah, right, I got on the groove. Now that camera going back and forth is a bit freaky.

Darren Evans: 36:11

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