Highlighting examples where such focus has delivered tangible results across a wide range of areas (including customer satisfaction, quality and placemaking) chief executive Nicola Barclay will say: “I talk about homes all the time, but today I’d like to talk about people.  We build homes and great places to live but it is people who bring them to life – by living in them, designing them, consenting them, funding them and constructing them. So we are, by any definition, a people business.

“And what I hope today will demonstrate is that it simply doesn’t matter what size of company you are – if you put people at the heart of it, you’ll get great results.”

With the industry having been challenged on a number of fronts in recent months, Barclay will also add: “We are often told that as an industry we must evolve. I believe that evolution is well underway and will continue to gather pace as we move towards a decarbonised society.

“As we compete for talent and the future pipeline of people to work within our industry, it is vitally important that we continue to innovate and create flexible, attractive environments for our people to work in as well as for our customers to live in.”