Mark Wakeford has been named as one of the winners in this year’s prestigious Top 100 Influential People Awards. The awards bring together the most successful professionals from a range of areas, including: Business & Entrepreneurialism, Diversity & Inclusion, Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG) and Philanthropy.  

Mark is Chair of the renewable energy business EvoEnergy Ltd and has more than 30 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in the development, construction and energy industries. A Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), Mark is passionate about reducing the carbon footprint of our developments and improving the delivery and maintenance of the built environment. 

Mark has been a transformative figure in the field of sustainability and the built environment. His innovative approaches and unwavering commitment have significantly influenced the sector, driving forward sustainable practices and setting new benchmarks for excellence. 

Business 

Mark is the Chair of the National Federation of Builders, the leading professional organisation for house builders and construction contractors.  His role is to secure the future of this membership body and to ensure the sustainability and successful survival of members. To this end Mark has driven through modernisation and reduction of the Board numbers through changing the Articles of Association. He has improved the board’s focus on the key challenges facing the organisation, through risk registers and a focus on purpose within a defined vision. Mark has also found ways to communicate with members, setting up a podcast channel, The Building Podcast, to inform, educate and challenge businesses throughout the sector. 

Mark was appointed and voted into this position after running a large regional contractor for 18 years and through his involvement in a wide range of industry initiatives, including the Strategic Forum for Construction, the Construction Leadership Council, advisory roles within the CITB, and winning a range of awards, including for his Private Finance Initiative for a High School in Hereford.  

Environmental Sustainability 

 Mark has leveraged his position as Chair of the UK’s foremost renewables contractor and carbon advisor, Evoenergy Ltd, to promote corporate sustainability and carbon reduction, both to his customers and to the wider construction sector. He has been recognised for this work by the Construction Leadership Council, who have made him a “Net-Zero Business Champion”. 

Mark is a full member of the Government’s Solar Taskforce, which was assembled in 2023 to advise both Government and industry on how to deliver five times the solar generation capacity within the UK by 2035, which is essential if the UK is to achieve net-zero by 2050. It has been recalled by the current Government who require advice and support on achieving 50GW by 2030, an increase of circa 35GW from 2022 levels. There are four subgroups within the Taskforce, and Mark chairs the Skills Group.  This has been charged with identifying how to recruit circa 60,000 people within the next decade and ensuring that they are all fully qualified, when no qualification exists for the sector. Initiatives that Mark has promoted through this group include: 

  • An Apprentice Trailblazer Group to assess the demand and delivery of new apprenticeships into the sector. 
  • An apprenticeship for strategic leaders and Directors from within the sector. This is the first specific director apprenticeship that seeks to ensure the competence of directors and their businesses in a fast-changing environment. 
  • Solar careers fairs, that Mark initiated and hosted across the country to promote the sector with willing companies to school leavers and college students. 
  • The first (and only) Sector Based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) to take unemployed, offer them training and to then interview them for a role within the sector. 
  • Relationships with Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions to promote the sector to those looking for work. 
  • Investigation into the numbers employed and devising the route maps for skills into the sector.  

Education 

 Mark has been a Governor of Moulton College, Northampton since 2015.  Moulton is a Further Education college focused on construction, farming and sport and Mark is able to support two of these three elements. Having been Managing Director of a large regional contractor, Stepnell, he is able to advise on employer engagement and routes into and through the industry.  As a director of a farming business, Mark can support, or challenge, decisions of the farm manager when necessary. Mark’s current role is to drive employer engagement and sustainability throughout the College, in estate operation, staff and student behaviours and teaching. Mark sits on the main Corporation Board and the Finance & Resources Subcommittee, overseeing the allocation of resources. Mark has introduced the college to several innovative ideas, including: 

  • Measuring the embodied carbon in its soil by satellite to allow off-sets for its operations and education of the local farming fraternity. 
  • Setting up a solar sector-based work academy programme (SWAP) for the solar industry. 
  • Introduced the strategic leaders programme for solar. 
  • Ran two careers fairs, one for construction technology and one for the solar industry. 
  • Overseen the College’s bid to gain planning permission for some of its land.

Media 

 As Chair of the National Federation of Builders, Mark is promoting knowledge and awareness through a new podcast, The Building Podcast. These interviews with senior industry leaders discuss issues facing the construction industry exploring the challenges with his guests and offering solutions that can be applied within businesses across the construction sector. These interviews are shared through podcast platforms and through the social media channels of the National Federation of Builders and CE Midlands. 

 He is a passionate advocate for sustainability, frequently speaking at industry conferences and seminars and has developed educational programs, careers fairs and workshops to train the next generation of professionals including in September Solar & Storage Live, IEMEA Green Skills Hub, Solar Finance & Investment Europe and the British New Home 2024 Mortgage Senate. Mark has been invited to join a small roundtable of key industry leaders to discuss ‘How do we solve the construction industry insolvency crisis?’ and advise on the governance and make up of a visionary board that can advise a range of construction industry stakeholders. 

 Mark regularly posts on Linked In, to his 8,000 connections, seeking to promote best practice and pride in the fantastic successes that construction and renewables provide. 

 These are just a few of the broad areas that Mark has positioned himself as a key figure in, a well-deserving winner in this year’s 100 Most Influential People.