Amy Speake, chief executive, Holmes Noble, discusses how construction leadership requirements are changing as project demand fluctuates
Working on director-level appointments gives me a front-row view of the leadership market in construction. Right now, I can confirm it’s moving ahead of the order book.
Glenigan’s Summer 2026 Forecast, published this June, explains why: UK construction project starts are forecast to rise 11% in 2027, with civils up 15%, industrial 16%, private housing 13% and education 20%.
After a flat 2025 and a forecast 1% decline in 2026, recovery is closer than current site sentiment suggests. While confidence remains subdued, Glenigan’s data reflects what we’re already seeing: demand for director-level construction leaders is shifting before the pipeline becomes visible.
So, hiring decisions made over the next eight weeks will determine which firms have the leadership in place when the market accelerates. Director-level appointments in procurement, supply chain and technical functions take time to define, search and onboard. In this scenario, hanging back is a dangerous game. Boards that wait until the upturn is obvious will be competing in a far tighter leadership market than the one available today.
Procurement in 2027: Securing capacity, not just stripping cost
The job description for a construction procurement director is changing more sharply than at any point since the 2008 cycle. Through 2025 and into 2026, the people running supply chains did a great job of tightening contract terms, reducing supplier counts and accepting single-source risks in exchange for margin. That capability matters, and it has kept businesses standing. It is not, however, the skillset that wins in 2027.
When civils and industrial starts spike so sharply in a single year, materials, plant and specialist subcontract capacity move from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market in months. The procurement leaders who perform in that environment are the ones who can lock in forward capacity, build long-cycle supplier relationships and hold their ground in negotiations once bargaining power has flipped to the supply side. They understand contract structuring in inflationary conditions. They have the standing inside the business to push back on a programme that has been promised before supply has been secured. Strip them out of the leadership team and the projected upside in 2027 turns into late delivery and eroded margins.
Impact of the Building Safety Act
The same step-change applies to technical and specification leadership. A traditional technical career built on progressively larger projects no longer meets the brief. Two pressures have reshaped the role.
The first is the Building Safety Act and the Building Safety Regulator. While Gateway 2 approval timelines are improving, higher-risk buildings now demand technical leaders who can oversee regulatory compliance from design through completion, demonstrate it to the regulator, and advise boards on its impact on programme, cost and risk. That requires a different skill set from the pre-Building Safety Act era.
The second is the growing commercial impact of technical decisions. Specification choices on fire performance, embodied carbon and energy efficiency now influence financing, insurance and tenant requirements. Leaders with both deep technical expertise and strong commercial judgement are in short supply, often outside the obvious talent pools and rarely available at short notice.
Where will the demand for construction leaders come from in 2027
Two booming verticals, civils and data centres, will pull capacity out of the wider market through 2027 and 2028. Boards should plan for the squeeze now rather than respond to it after the fact.
Civils and utilities sit at the front of that queue. Ofwat’s £104bn AMP8 settlement for the 2025-2030 cycle is gathering momentum, alongside continued spend on electricity generation and grid upgrades for net zero, plus nuclear at Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C. Skilled leaders inside that environment (regulated-framework procurement directors, water-sector technical leads, grid-side engineering managers) are already being approached, often more than once a quarter.
Data centres are the second pull. Every major commercial or industrial scheme priced from late 2026 onwards will compete with hyperscale developers for the same technical and MEP talent.
The combined effect is straightforward. Two heavily funded verticals will draw senior talent away from the firms that delivered for them in the last cycle, and the firms that lose people without replacing them will move into 2027 a step behind on capacity, judgement and client confidence.
Boards need to act now
It’s time for an honest assessment of whether today’s leadership team is equipped for the next cycle. The biggest risk is waiting until the upturn is visible and being forced into reactive hiring. Instead, boards should audit the leadership needed for the 2027–2028 pipeline, not the challenges of 2025–2026.
Here’s my advice: map the sectors you expect to target, not just those you already serve; assess procurement, supply chain and technical leaders against future requirements; and identify critical gaps early enough to begin a considered search.
Director-level appointments typically take four to six months from decision to operational impact, making late summer the ideal window to act.
Timing is everything. The uncertainty of 2026 will pass, but the appointments made – or delayed – during it will influence performance well into 2028.
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