Necessity is the mother of invention, so let’s be inventive!

The mantra of ‘Survive ‘til ’25’ swiftly turned into ‘Survive in ’25’ last year. This year, the focus will still be staying alive for some, with caution remaining the operative word, but others have had enough of waiting for certainty that may never come and are already putting their best foot forward.

About time too. Recent behaviour has been distinctly out of character for an industry known for talking the market up and kicking open every door opportunity knocks on and barging through. Geopolitical tensions, the Budget, soaring costs – you name it, there have been myriad reasons – or excuses – for businesses not to invest, not to develop, not to take space, not to take a risk.

Already this year, the mood seems more upbeat and proactive, as the contributions to our ‘26 for ’26’ forecast feature attest. Whether all the bold statements of intent go the way of most New Year resolutions, time will tell, but necessity is the mother of invention and that’s why I think this will be the year lots of businesses cast off the nervy inertia of last year and explore innovative new ways to address challenges and grow. Some of those ways will involve AI. All will require HI – human intelligence.

The lack of the latter when dealing with the former was a key talking point at the first BE News event of 2026, the Spotlight on Cybersecurity, which was co-hosted by Landsec and Kontor and sponsored by Control Risks, Pinsent Masons and technologywithin.

The theme was ‘Stop thinking if. Start thinking when’ and keynote speaker Amanda Finch, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Information Security, underlined the inevitability of cyber-attacks by sharing the sobering fact that after the USA and China, organised crime is the third largest economy in the world.

The debate that followed was fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. The consensus was that AI was both part of the problem and the solution and one of the issues was a lack of HI in the way AI is deployed. A particularly squirmy moment for me came when one panellist noted in horror that people still put post it notes with their passwords on their computers. Who would be so reckless and stupid? Erm, me? And I’m sure I am not the only one.

To find out about the evolving threat landscape and how to navigate it, look out for coverage of the event in BE News in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, we will be publishing writeups of our recent Spotlights on Power and the Building Safety Act and the Newcore 2025 Review/2026 Preview roundtable debate.

Also keep your eyes peeled for invitations to BE News events. We delivered more than 30 brilliant content-led events last year and have even more scheduled this year. With our bigger events, you can now also register your interest via Eventbrite. You need will to be quick if you want to attend the Spotlight on Flex event on 4 February, though. There are just a handful of spaces left.

As well as lots of opportunities to attend our best-in-class events, there will also be plenty of opportunities to sponsor them and connect with the senior industry figures only BE News can connect you with. We are looking for sponsors for two events we are holding on Tuesday 10 March at MIPIM, for instance – a lunchtime roundtable debate on regional investment and a developers’ dinner debate (both at venues already confirmed). If you’d like to find out more, drop me a line on +44 07944 064324 or email me at liz@benews.co.uk.

We are also planning to hold our first big awards event this summer, the Retrofit and Reuse Spotlight + Awards. We are currently assembling a steering meeting, so if you’re interested in getting involved, contact me asap.

That’s not all that is new for 2026. I’m also delighted to announce that BE News has launched an innovative new subscriptions service. While we firmly believe the future of news is free and therefore the BE News website and BE Alert newsletter will remain free to use, we will be offering you subscriptions to events, thought leadership and advertising & sponsorship packages. Why? Because we are mindful that however positive and upbeat you are, there are still plenty of commercial challenges ahead, and this will help you to spread the costs.

Next month, we will also be launching the first of our sponsored specialist weekly newsletters, on the living sector. Others planned include a weekly people moves newsletter and a weekly news roundup – contact our head of commercial Nick Stroffolino at nick@benews.co.uk to find out more about these, subscriptions or corporate sponsorships.

I don’t know where the time has gone but we are celebrating the third anniversary of BE News and the BE Alert daily newsletter this month. In the past three years, we have gone from strength to strength and are now the fastest growing title in our space, with more than 66,000 unique monthly users and a contact database north of 70,000.

We have also been supported by more than 100 of the most dynamic and exciting brands in the built environment industry – whether on events or advertising & sponsorship. Thank you so much for that support, without which, as a hitherto non-subscriptions-based business, we would have long gone.

We look forward to working with many more of you this year, which is shaping up to be our biggest yet. There will certainly be plenty to collaborate on and we will be revealing more of our exciting plans over the coming weeks and months. Watch this space!

In the meantime, given that we asked you to share your thoughts on 2025 and 2026, it is only fair that I do the same, so here you go:

Sum up 2025 in one word: Nervy

How optimistic do you feel compared with 12 months ago? More optimistic – 2025 was always going to be more challenging than people thought at the outset and the Budget was the final nail in the coffin.

Key industry trends and watchwords for 2026: HI (rather than AI), stocks (rather than sectors), action (rather than inaction), equity (rather than debt).

Hopes, fears and expectations for 2026: My hope is that people will stop looking for excuses – such as the Budget, geopolitical turmoil and rising costs – and start looking for opportunities. Necessity is the mother of invention, so let’s be inventive!