Regulatory Strategy Design in the Construction Products Sector

This talk explores how systems thinking and participatory modelling were applied to strategy design in the UK construction products sector following systemic failures revealed by the Grenfell Tower fire. The speaker, bridging research and practice through a PhD and consultancy, emphasizes that the quality of information feeding strategy processes is a critical leverage point often overlooked. Partnering with a new regulator, UCL, and an industrial design consultancy, the project brought together diverse worldviews through interviews, document analysis, persona development, and causal loop diagramming. These qualitative system maps, traceable back to source data, were used in multi-stakeholder workshops to identify strategic risks and points of intervention. Key insights included cultural divides between manufacturing and construction that create systemic blind spots, the value of participatory processes in reframing regulator–industry relationships, and the potential of combining multiple data sources to build richer system models. The work highlights how inclusive, systemic approaches can strengthen regulatory strategy in complex, safety-critical industries.