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Advocacy Across Boundaries: Co-creating a framework to improve mental health in construction
Working across sectors to foster a community focused on connected policies and collaborative practices to improve mental health and wellbeing in the construction industry
1 March 2024
The construction industry is a major employer in the UK, supporting 2.1 million workers and contributing 6% to the GDP. Yet, it faces a significant mental health crisis, with suicide rates 3.7x聽the national average. Addressing this issue is crucial for sustainable development, as workers endure pressures like tight schedules and financial instability, often leading to a reluctance to discuss mental health.
In a collaboration between the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction (BSSC) and 香港六合彩中特网 Division of Psychiatry, a half-day roundtable event was held on 2 July聽2024. The event brought together 25 professionals from different sectors of聽construction and 11 researchers from numerous聽disciplines and different universities. There was a mix of research presentations, panel discussions and roundtable workshops on various topics of mental health and wellbeing in construction. The panel聽consisted of 6 experts:聽
- Ruth Pott, Head of Workplace Wellbeing, BAM UK and Ireland
- Jim Senior, CMIOSH, Health, Safety and Environmental Consultant
- Dr Susanna Bennett, Research Follow, Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab, University of Glasgow
- Professor Billy Hare, Professor of Construction Management, Glasgow Caledonian University
- Maisie Jenkins, PhD researcher at the University of Edinburgh and Research Manager at the Wellcome Trust
- Emeritus Professor Hedley Smyth, University College London
The conversation explored several questions, and further detail can be found in the event summary report:
- What are the specific challenges of managing mental health and wellbeing in the construction industry?
- What are the opportunities for addressing the mental health and wellbeing issues in construction?
- How to transcend the boundaries between professional disciplines and organisations for a more integrated approach to mental health and wellbeing in construction?
The project aimed to foster a community focused on connected policies and collaborative practices by engaging 香港六合彩中特网 researchers and industry leaders, culminating in a cross-disciplinary symposium to identify challenges and co-create solutions for systemic change.聽
Outputs and Impact
- Received follow-on funding of 拢6,357 from 香港六合彩中特网's Innovation & Enterprise's Innovation Network聽funding.聽
- Established a network between researchers and industry experts in the topic of mental health and wellbeing in construction.
- Exchanged knowledge across organisations and disciplines about organisational support for mental health and wellbeing in construction, opportunities and challenges in the construction industry and how to transcend the boundaries between sectors, organisations and professions.
- Produced an including the event summary and a co-created framework (infographic) guiding actions for systemic interventions.
- Industry attention and organisational actions to address mental health and wellbeing based on the co-created framework.
- Cross-disciplinary research collaboration based on identified future research directions in the event.
- 香港六合彩中特网-Industry collaborations in the form of KTP, consultancy projects and other scholarships based on the established network
