Registration marks the start of an exciting day dedicated to celebrating and exploring the precast concrete industry. As the doors open, delegates are welcomed with refreshments from the Bistro Bars (sponsored by Oscrete), creating the perfect opportunity to network, settle in, and plan the day ahead.
Mark Shepherd
Director, MPA Precast and MPA Masonry
Welcome
A welcome and opening introductions to the Precast & Masonry Expo 2026 event proceedings.
Paul Adeleke
CEO, Mineral Products Association Ltd
Introduction to Paul Adeleke
New CEO of the Mineral Products Association – some reflections for the future.
Health and Safety remains MPA’s number one priority. This session brings together two critical areas – preventing life changing incidents through effective energy isolation and supporting better mental health at work – demonstrating how awareness, action and shared responsibility can help protect lives and support minds across our industry.
Reece Safety
To be confirmed
Every Lock Has a Life Behind It
Behind every isolation lock is a person. Someone with a family, friends and a life beyond the site. The lock is more than a piece of safety equipment – it is a personal barrier between them and the unexpected release of hazardous energy.
Every Lock Has a Life Behind It explores the human importance of effective energy isolation and LOTOTO – Lock-Out, Tag-Out, Try-Out. It considers how routine maintenance, cleaning and intervention can become life-changing when energy is not fully identified, isolated and proven safe, and why experience or familiarity with a task must never replace a safe system of work.
This session will challenge us to think differently about the simple act of applying a lock – and the person that lock is there to protect.
Because isolation isn’t just about protecting equipment or following a procedure.
Every lock has a life behind it.
Lisa Saunders
Health & Safety Advisor, MPA
Beyond the Data: Turning Mental Health Insight into Action
During 2026 MPA has been partnered with Mates in Mind to benchmark where the industry currently stands in its approach to managing mental health in the workplace. The findings have now been analysed and will help underpin the future work of the MPA Mental Health Working Group, ensuring that it is focused on what industry needs to help manage mental health in the workplace and reduce the impact. This session will go beyond the data to unpack what the report tells us and more importantly how we turn those insights into meaningful action.
Take time to recharge and connect during the refreshments and networking sessions throughout the day. These informal breaks provide the perfect setting to continue conversations, meet new contacts, and share experiences with fellow attendees. With refreshments served and a relaxed atmosphere, it's an ideal opportunity to walk around the exhibition floor, reflect on what you've seen, and build connections that last beyond the event.
In recent years, activity in the standards arena has increased significantly. In the UK, much of this work has been driven by a heightened focus on safety and quality across the construction sector. At the European level, where most of the product standards used in the UK are developed, extensive revisions are underway to align standards with the requirements of the revised Construction Products Regulation (CPR 2024).
This session will provide an overview of key developments in the standards landscape. It will include a presentation on a new Publicly Available Specification (PAS) developed to improve standardisation in modern methods of construction (MMC), an introduction to the process through which European construction product standards are being revised, and a review of the proposed new standard for precast concrete products.
Introduction and chair: Tony Jones, Technical Director, MPA, The Concrete Centre
Mike Wharton
Director, Aggregates & Concrete Standards, MPA
Future standardisation – Construction Products Regulations (CPR) Aquis process what it is, why it is important
A general introduction to the CPR Aqui process – what it is, why it is important, and where we are with the relevant products.
The 2024 EU Construction Products Regulations (CPR) signifies a fundamental shift in the way future standards will be developed, drafted, and used. The CPR Acquis is the process being used by the European Commission, to review, update, and ensure all harmonized technical standards for building materials match the new Construction Products Regulation. This session will cover the new aspects of the CPR, how the CPR Acquis process will address the changes including the overall timeline, and an insight into Digital Product Passports under the CPR and the UK Government intentions for adopting/implementing the EU 2024 CPR.
Tony Jones
Technical Director, MPA The Concrete Centre
Future standardisation - new standards for precast
The precast concrete product standards have been through the CPR Acqui process and are in an advanced state of drafting. If approved and adopted by the UK as a designated standard as expected, compliance with the standard will become a legal requirement for placing most precast products on the market. This presentation will discuss the drafting process and the issues that arose. The presentation will also provide an update to the current status and a discussion of the content of the draft precast standards.
Suzanne Davenport
Associate, Studio Partington
What is PAS 8700:2025 Modern methods of construction for new build residential properties?
PAS 8700:2025 is the new publicly available specification setting out the requirements and guidance for modern methods of construction (MMC) in new build residential development. This session will provide an accessible overview of what the standard covers, what it means for manufacturers, contractors and developers, and how it is expected to shape the future delivery of housing across the UK. Whether you are new to MMC or already working within this space, this session will give you the clarity and context you need to understand where PAS 8700:2025 fits and what it means for your business.
Take time to recharge and connect during the refreshments and networking sessions throughout the day. These informal breaks provide the perfect setting to continue conversations, meet new contacts, and share experiences with fellow attendees. With refreshments served and a relaxed atmosphere, it's an ideal opportunity to walk around the exhibition floor, reflect on what you've seen, and build connections that last beyond the event.
Flooding, overheating, wildfire, droughts and storms are already having a real impact on millions of people in the UK. They are affecting how and where we work, our health and wellbeing, and on the reliability of our infrastructure. In this session we will explore what climate resilience means for manufacturers, how they can help support resilience and adaptation of the wider built environment as well as the impacts on their operations and the performance of their products.
The UK Green Building Council will introduce their recently released stakeholder action plans for climate resilience as well as hearing from architects and manufacturers on how climate resilience is already being embedded into the design of buildings and influencing business operations.
Introduction and chair – Elaine Toogood, Senior Director, Concrete MPA
Philipa Birch-Wood
Head of Action, Resilience and Nature UK Green Building Council
UKGBC Resilience Roadmap and the Stakeholder Action Plans
Philippa will introduce the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) UK Climate Resilience Roadmap and recently published Stakeholder Action Plans, highlighting what businesses, and in particular, manufacturers, should be doing now to adapt to climate change.
Philippa Birch-Wood Head of Action, Resilience and Nature UKGBC
David Manley Head of Sustainability at Forterra
Helen Raymon Senior Sustainable Design Architect at MPA The Concrete Centre
The role of concrete producers in delivering climate resilience
Panel discussion on the role of concrete producers in delivering climate resilience
Take time to recharge and connect during the refreshments and networking sessions throughout the day. These informal breaks provide the perfect setting to continue conversations, meet new contacts, and share experiences with fellow attendees. With refreshments served and a relaxed atmosphere, it's an ideal opportunity to walk around the exhibition floor, reflect on what you've seen, and build connections that last beyond the event.
Alesio Rimoldi General Secretary at BIBM
Magdalena Herbik Public Affairs & Communications Manager at BIBM
Albanela Dulaj Sustainability & Circularity Officer at BIBM
Europe in transition – Challenges and opportunities for the precast concrete sector
Europe's construction sector is being reshaped by climate ambitions, energy and material security, geopolitics and housing affordability, with major implications for precast concrete looking towards 2030 and 2050. This presentation offers a precast industry perspective on these shifting regulatory and market forces covering decarbonisation, circularity, affordable housing, productivity, resilience, digitalisation and competitiveness and explores the challenges and opportunities ahead, including how Precast’s strengths in industrialised production, durability and adaptability can be better showcased. It also highlights BIBM's role as the European voice of the precast industry, representing the sector to EU institutions and helping members prepare for cross-border regulatory change.
The conference and exhibition finally comes to a close.
The formal proceedings for the MPA Precast and Masonry Expo Awards Dinner will start to take place in the Gallery Suite on the first floor.