Glasgow has once again played host to a successful sporting event with a global audience. The inaugural UCI World Cycling Championships joins a long list of triumphs in recent years, with the Commonwealth Games, Euro 2020, and the European Indoor Athletics Championships all coming to our city.

Often we talk about the importance of achieving net zero in terms of how inaction could be disastrous for our planet. We see in the news the actions that are having impacts on our ecosystems and the imperativeness to address these. But we need to talk about the benefits this transition can bring to our communities too. More importantly, we need to deliver them.

Scotland is rapidly approaching its net zero deadline of 2045. When these sorts of targets are set by the government they can seem so far away in the future. To organisations and businesses who are just trying to survive, they can seem irrelevant to the here and now. But in terms of investment, infrastructure, and property, 2045 is just around the corner and must be at the forefront of organisational thinking.

Glasgow is rightly known as the “dear green place” due to the city boasting more than 90 parks and gardens. Afterall, our oldest park, a stone’s throw from the city centre, is simply known as Glasgow Green.

For many Glaswegians, the renowned Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988 is etched in our memories. It is incredible that a temporary exhibition has weaved itself into the fabric of the city. For me, it also serves as a reminder that we must continue to ensure that people living in or visiting Scotland’s largest city have easy access to green spaces.

When I travel to Paris this week for the next meeting of the D2 Grids Steering Committee, an Interreg North-West Europe funded project, I will be updating fellow members on the incredible progress being made in Glasgow on our Green Regeneration Innovation District (GRID) which includes Clyde Gateway’s own pilot for an innovative and sustainable renewable energy project.

What is a hospital’s primary purpose? To offer a diagnosis for disease. To treat the sick and injured. Or to provide shelter in a series of buildings for those during periods of treatment. Some define a hospital’s primary purpose as catering for the wellbeing of all.

Homeworking or a combination of work split between home and office is here to stay. All the evidence points to the hybrid work pattern remaining, and indeed growing for the foreseeable future. Home is indeed the new office.

In our lifetime, one in two of us will hear those three little words ‘You have cancer’. It’s a life changing, devastating moment in time, no matter if you are a wealthy CEO or barely started school.

I have been in and around building sites since I was a boy and have worked, and continue to work in all sectors of the architecture/construction industry (large and small). So, it might seem rather surprising that even after more than 30 years in the sector, as an architect and also as a developer, I am still thrilled and excited when I see our design, planning and building know-how crystallise in a new housing development.

As inflation rises beyond six per cent, the soaring cost of living is becoming a real crisis. Many of our tenants at Albyn Housing Society were last week looking for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to use his Spring Statement to announce measures to reduce living costs rather than installing a price cap that keeps energy prices at rates that some people already cannot pay.

The pandemic, a renewed focus on climate change following COP26, and the growing interest in ESG (environment, social and governance) credentials are all contributing to our changing world of work.

Scotland’s construction industry carries a huge responsibility. Not only is it being called upon to deliver up to 25,000 new homes annually to meet current demand, but it also has a significant part to play in lowering the country’s carbon footprint and helping it to meet ambitious environmental targets.

As we prepare to celebrate International Women’s Day this year, I am still glowing with pride having watched the Scottish women that came, curled and conquered at the recent Beijing Olympics. I also remember the 15,000 women who took to the streets of New York over a century ago demanding better working conditions, inaugurating this day to celebrate women.

On the back of the Pandemic, life sciences are riding high. The speed at which vaccines have been developed and supply chains built has shown the potential and agility of this sector. Last year the UK’s biotech industries attracted £4.5bn in funding – a rise of £1.7bn on the 2020 figure, with Venture Capital companies, who historically were nervous of the risks involved, now investing at record levels.

After two years of uncertainty, charities are hoping that 2022 will bring more stability to the sector. Like every business in the UK, fundraising organisations have had to adapt to the constantly-changing landscape as the country has shut down, re-opened and shut down again in successive waves.

The race to achieve net-zero emissions targets is on and decarbonising the transport sector - as Scotland’s largest source of emissions - heavily depends on the mass rollout of electric vehicles, and crucially, the availability and prowess of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The construction sector contributes hugely to global CO2 emissions and this is something the industry is currently doing its utmost to address. One solution is the refurbishment and retrofit of existing buildings.

Health is wealth. What does that actually mean? There are lots of interpretations of this phrase and it is the topic I’ll be addressing when I step onto the virtual global stage at Expo 2020 Dubai. Healthcare and science have never been more in front of the public mind as they have been in the past two years. Society has a greater understanding of the link between science and disease and the benefits to the patients, the NHS and the wider economy of diagnosing and treating diseases more effectively.

Over the last 35 years working in the technology sector, I have often been one of only a small number of women in the room. So, I was particularly pleased to Chair an all women panel at a TechEx event in Amsterdam recently. All held senior management positions from the banking, health and aerospace technology sectors. Each is responsible for changing customer experiences through digital innovation.

Whether we are returning to work with a spring in our step or a knot of dread dragging us down, there seems to be no end in sight to this pandemic. Working with leaders in both the private and public sectors, the organisational challenges since March 2020 have been relentless. Uncertainty looms large in so many aspects of our lives. As leaders, these individuals are vital to helping everyone cope with so much uncertainty and importantly for our organisations to emerge positively from the pandemic.