Insights from senior marketing leaders navigating compliance, competency and commercial pressures in 2026.
Marketing in construction is increasingly developing into a strategic discipline. It requires technical competence, compliance knowledge, risk awareness and the ability to educate audiences from apprentices to architects. The role has fundamentally expanded, but many of the structures around it haven’t kept pace.
The Think Tank and the Construction & Built Environment Marketing Network brought together nine senior marketing leaders from across the UK construction sector. The conversation was both candid and extremely revealing.
What you’ll find in this report
The sector is navigating a perfect storm of compliance pressures, workforce shortages, technology integration challenges and an organisational disconnect between sales and marketing.
Our report explores how senior leaders are responding to these challenges. Seven interconnected themes emerged from the discussion:
- Marketing as a strategic discipline – How the role has evolved beyond communications to become technical, educational and strategic
- The compliance and quality question – Navigating unregulated products, new regulations and a culture of “building cheap”
- The competency challenge – How recertification costs are accelerating the skills crisis
- Education at every level – Why marketing now means educating colleges, installers, merchants, specifiers and end-users
- Evolving audiences and engagement – Adapting to generational shifts and new engagement models
- The technology adoption gap – Why PIM, CRM and AI investments often fail to deliver
- The sales and marketing disconnect – Bridging the structural misalignment between two functions evolving at different speeds
Who should read this?
This report is for marketing leaders, sales directors, MDs and anyone responsible for commercial strategy in the construction sector. It offers frank insights, real examples and a clear-eyed view of the opportunities for those who can adapt.
