{"id":94068,"date":"2021-05-28T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=94068"},"modified":"2022-02-06T19:57:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T19:57:42","slug":"housebuilding-materials-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/","title":{"rendered":"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an increase in housebuilding gathers pace, shortages of key construction materials including steel and timber are threatening to derail the recovery. With increasing pressure on deadlines and margins, how can the industry adapt its approach to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented factors? Here, Carol Massay, head of construction at The Access Group<\/a>, explains the role of technology in keeping construction on track<\/h2>\n

The number of homes delivered reached 243,770 in 2019\/20, the highest annual figure since 1987 and marking the seventh consecutive year of growth in the number of new homes delivered.<\/p>\n

Strong housebuilding\u00a0activity has also fuelled an encouraging first quarter of 2021, but a\u00a0recent RICS survey<\/a> found that 57% of construction surveyors highlighted materials shortages as their main obstacle to building back better.<\/p>\n

Grappling with the on-going materials shortages<\/h3>\n

Anyone working in the construction sector will be aware of the widespread concern about shortages this year. The impact of Covid-19 on mills and factories, container shortages, increased red tape at UK ports, and sharp rises in shopping costs are just some of the factors likely to result in longer lead times, as well as higher and increasingly volatile prices.<\/p>\n

The BCIS Materials Cost<\/a> Index showed that materials prices rose by 2.7% in Q1 of 2021, compared to the previous quarter, and 5.6% with the same period a year earlier. The same Index forecast a 7.2% year-on-year rise in the second quarter of the year.<\/p>\n

With financial constraints and a shortage of labour continuing to hold back projects, estimators are working hard to win tenders. Rising material costs are also increasing the pressure on surveyors, site managers, and commercial and finance teams to deliver projects on time and on budget.<\/p>\n

Given the on-going uncertainty in the industry, as businesses grapple with the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit repercussions, it remains highly unlikely that costs and the supply of materials<\/a> will stabilise any time soon. This makes it imperative for businesses to have the right systems in place to ensure those already working to tight margins can continue to deliver projects effectively.<\/p>\n

Using specialist software to alleviate project delays<\/h3>\n

When costs start to spiral, without specialist software<\/a> in place it can be difficult to identify trends, putting the profitability and success of projects at risk, as well as impacting the bottom line.<\/p>\n

Using a cost value reconciliation (CVR) process home-builders can track any overspend or under recovery, meaning any alarming trends can be dealt with immediately. Digitising the CVR process also helps project teams to keep on top of the monthly expenditure and revenue.\u00a0 The project team can ensure accurate liabilities for work yet to be billed is entered against the project in the correct period reporting, and also\u00a0 record any under\/over measure against the client.\u00a0 The project CVR process also allows the project team to forecast revenue and cost through to completion so that\u00a0this information is easily shared with the finance director who is ultimately responsible for the financial stability of the company.<\/p>\n

Depending on the size of the project, some circumstances may require additional levels of detail assigned to individual cost transactions, known as element or work breakdown structures. This is particularly useful in the volatile market conditions we are currently seeing.<\/p>\n

Delivering smarter decision-making<\/h3>\n

As management teams face up to rising costs and potential delays for materials, access to accurate, up-to-the-minute analytics is vital to inform smarter decision making.<\/p>\n

The use of dashboards provides full visibility of trends, based on actual and real-time data, giving the business an accurate and up-to-date representation of a project. Producing weekly and monthly reports will help to raise any concerning trends, and real-time information can prevent over-spend.<\/p>\n

The use of mobile apps also means that staff working on-site can instantly view or submit key data to the ERP<\/a> and finance system, rather than waiting until they are back in the office. With market forces changing rapidly, this speeds up the process and minimises any chance of error or confusion.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that the housebuilding sector is at the heart of the UK\u2019s economic recovery and it is also clear that the challenges we have seen over the first half of 2021 will be with us for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

There is little businesses can do to impact material shortages or delays at ports, so it is vital that they put the right technology and systems in place to bolster their operations. This approach means that on-site and office-based teams can maintain full visibility and control of projects from start to finish, as well as mitigating the impact of disruption.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Carol Massay<\/strong><\/p>\n

Head of construction<\/p>\n

The Access Group<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @theaccessgroup<\/a><\/p>\n

LinkedIn: The Access Group<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With increasing pressure on deadlines and margins, how can the housebuilding industry adapt its approach to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented factors? Here, Carol Massay, head of construction at The Access Group, explains the role of technology in keeping construction on track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38487],"tags":[591,583,856,54592,16989,172727,60497],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[172535],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-94068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-construction-technology-news","7":"tag-brexit","8":"tag-construction-products","9":"tag-construction-technology","10":"tag-coronavirus","11":"tag-estimating-software","12":"tag-featured","13":"tag-sh-the-access-group","14":"stakeholder_rel_tag-the-access-group"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shortages of construction materials are threatening to derail housebuilding. Carol Massay explains how technology can keep construction on track\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New approach vital to conquer delays and tight margins from materials shortages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With increasing pressure on deadlines and margins, how can the housebuilding industry adapt its approach to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented factors? Here, Carol Massay, head of construction at The Access Group, explains the role of technology in keeping construction on track\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-28T06:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-06T19:57:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/dreamstime_xxl_172105586.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steph Blundell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"New approach vital to conquer delays and tight margins from materials shortages\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"With increasing pressure on deadlines and margins, how can the housebuilding industry adapt its approach to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented factors? Here, Carol Massay, head of construction at The Access Group, explains the role of technology in keeping construction on track\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\"},\"headline\":\"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-28T06:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-06T19:57:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\"},\"wordCount\":782,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Brexit\",\"Construction Products\",\"Construction Technology\",\"Coronavirus\",\"Estimating Software\",\"Featured\",\"SH The Access Group\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Construction Technology News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\",\"name\":\"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-28T06:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-06T19:57:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Shortages of construction materials are threatening to derail housebuilding. Carol Massay explains how technology can keep construction on track\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"description\":\"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"alternateName\":\"PBC Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\",\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steph Blundell\"},\"description\":\"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins","description":"Shortages of construction materials are threatening to derail housebuilding. Carol Massay explains how technology can keep construction on track","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New approach vital to conquer delays and tight margins from materials shortages","og_description":"With increasing pressure on deadlines and margins, how can the housebuilding industry adapt its approach to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented factors? Here, Carol Massay, head of construction at The Access Group, explains the role of technology in keeping construction on track","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/","og_site_name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","article_published_time":"2021-05-28T06:00:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-06T19:57:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1500,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/dreamstime_xxl_172105586.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steph Blundell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"New approach vital to conquer delays and tight margins from materials shortages","twitter_description":"With increasing pressure on deadlines and margins, how can the housebuilding industry adapt its approach to mitigate the impact of these unprecedented factors? Here, Carol Massay, head of construction at The Access Group, explains the role of technology in keeping construction on track","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday","twitter_site":"@PBC_Today","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/"},"author":{"name":"Steph Blundell","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb"},"headline":"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins","datePublished":"2021-05-28T06:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-06T19:57:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/"},"wordCount":782,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Brexit","Construction Products","Construction Technology","Coronavirus","Estimating Software","Featured","SH The Access Group"],"articleSection":["Construction Technology News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/","name":"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-05-28T06:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-06T19:57:42+00:00","description":"Shortages of construction materials are threatening to derail housebuilding. Carol Massay explains how technology can keep construction on track","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/construction-technology-news\/housebuilding-materials-shortages\/94068\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New approach vital to conquer materials shortage delays and tight margins"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","description":"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","alternateName":"PBC Today","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Planning, Building & Construction Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb","name":"Steph Blundell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steph Blundell"},"description":"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-04 07:46:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94068"},{"taxonomy":"stakeholder_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stakeholder_rel_tag?post=94068"},{"taxonomy":"contributor_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor_rel_tag?post=94068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}