A potential whistleblower on LinkedIn is apparently planning a tell-all book that will name names and expose the dark underbelly of the UK’s asbestos industry.

If even half of what he is saying is true, the revelations contained within his book will cause a storm of unprecedented magnitude within the sector.

Yet, in many ways, any such book will merely reinforce that which we already know. Corruption and criminality are rife within the UK demolition and construction industry. From plant and fuel theft to major fraud, this is an industry in which illegality is as ever-present as diesel fuel and plastic hard hats.

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The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing. Although there is great speculation about how it was built and by whom, the pyramid stands as a testament to the skill of those that erected it.

For millennia, that pyramid has stood sentinel. It has seen empires rise and fall; countless sunrises and sunsets. And through it all, it has remained resilient. And for good reason.

Regardless whether you believe it was built by thousands of slaves or by alien beings from another galaxy, The Great Pyramid of Giza is the blueprint for strong, stable construction. It is broadest and, therefore, strongest at its base; spreading and carrying the load for the levels above that slowly diminish in size until it reaches its peak 137 metres above. Four and a half thousand years after it was built, it stands strong to this very day.

Despite advances in machinery, methods and materials, that same principle of “strongest at the base” still guides modern construction practices. In fact, it actually guides the composition of the industry and the make-up of each individual project.

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Do you ever get the feeling we’re going round in circles; that we’re trapped in an endless loop, doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again? If so, you are not alone. Ours is a sector in which everyone from the prospective employee and industry rookie to the managing director and entire companies are trapped in a never-ending spiral; a Groundhog Day in which we all do the same things over and over for all eternity.

Let’s imagine, for example, that you find yourself homeless. You are not the type to just throw yourself upon the mercy of the state, and you intend to dig yourself out of this hopefully temporary hole.

You apply for a job in demolition or construction. The wages will be more than enough to cover the rent on a small place you have picked out. But you can’t rent the house because, as it stands today, you don’t have a job. But your would-be employer refuses to offer you the job because you are currently of no fixed abode. You also don’t have a bank account. You’d like one, but you need some money to pay into the account to get it started. But you have no money because you have no job. And you have no job because you have nowhere to live. And you have nowhere to live because you have no job.

And that is just one of many endless and negative loops that can trap and enslave the unsuspecting.

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Is aspiration killing construction? That feels like an absurd question. Aspiration is good, isn’t it? But as you’re about to hear, aspiration isn’t just elevation. Sometimes it’s distraction. We praise ambition, yet send it packing off to careers that glitter, careers that feel alive on a mobile phone or computer screen.

Meanwhile, jobs involving dirty hands and dirty boots remain unseen. And because of that, a vital industry fades from view. And fades from possibility.

Computer, phone, TV and movie screens are filled with images showing the allure of glamorous careers – footballers, singers, YouTubers, online influencers. But demolition and construction? These roles and these industries are invisible, hard to frame, lacking narrative.

When you can’t see it, you can’t aspire to it. And when you do occasionally see it, it’s hardly aspirational, is it?

Platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are filled with memes of demolition and construction gone awry. On site disasters. Machines turning over. People being hurt. Or displaying the kind of “banter” that generally involves someone being humiliated by his colleagues.
On the rare occasions a young person does happen upon some form of demolition or construction content, it is likely to be enough to put them off for life.

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