Construction robots are no longer a novelty at trade shows. The harder question is why so few of them are doing everyday work on British building sites. That is the question a new one-day summit, Groundworks, sets out to tackle when it opens at UCL Here East in London on Wednesday 11 November 2026.
Billed as the first edition of a UK and European event, Groundworks will bring around 150 people from main contractors, infrastructure clients, robotics companies, investors and government into one room on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Speakers listed on the official programme include representatives of Mace, VINCI Construction, HS2, McKinsey and the Department for Business and Trade. There will also be a demonstration area where machines run live.
Why construction robotics matters in the UK
The pressure on the industry is easy to measure. The Construction Industry Training Board's latest Construction Workforce Outlook, published in June, says the UK needs an extra 41,200 construction workers every year between 2026 and 2030, around 206,000 people in all, to meet forecast demand. As reported by Construction News, the report finds that "too few people are entering the sector, too many experienced workers are leaving, and productivity improvements have not been sufficient to close the gap".
Safety is the other half of the argument. Health and Safety Executive figures for 2025/26, which are still provisional, record 25 workers killed in construction, more than in any other main industry. Falls from height were the most common cause of fatal accidents across all sectors. Much of the case for site robotics rests on taking people away from repetitive, heavy or dangerous jobs such as overhead drilling, working at height and moving materials.
The organisers frame the gap starkly. They point to industrial robot density of 267 per 10,000 manufacturing workers in Europe, an International Federation of Robotics figure for Western Europe, and say construction is close to zero. As the independent publication Construction Industry AI notes, there is no equivalent IFR figure for construction, largely because there is not yet an installed base to count.
From pilots to purchase orders
What sets Groundworks apart is its focus. It is less about whether robots work and more about whether they can be got onto a live site and kept there. The launch announcement said every session would come back to three questions: should we deploy, what should we deploy and how do we deploy?
The event is organised by Bricks & Bytes, the construction technology media business behind the Bricks & Bytes podcast. Its founder, Owen Drury, will host. In the launch release he said there was "still a big gap between seeing a robot in a demo and putting one to work on a live site", adding: "Shiny demos and talk are cheap if we can't get these things working."
What's on the programme
The main stage starts at 09:15 with a welcome and a presentation of new research on the state of construction robotics in the UK. Mark Reynolds CBE, executive chairman of Mace and co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, then gives the opening keynote, titled "The Two-Million Workforce Gap: How Must Construction Adapt?" He stays on for a panel called "Who Pays for the Robot?". That panel looks at the commercial case for automation, with Fergus Harradence, a deputy director at the Department for Business and Trade, and Salar Al Khafaji, founder and chief executive of the robotics company Monumental.
A late-morning panel on commercialising construction robotics brings together Monumental, CSC Robotic Engineering, AUAR, Hilti and Kewazo. Innovate UK Business Connect will then launch CRAIN, described as a national network for construction robotics adoption, in a session led by Neil Appleton.
Two afternoon panels are likely to draw the most attention from contractors and clients. In one, Philip Reid, head of innovation and transformation for VINCI Construction UK, joins speakers from GOLDBECK, Bouygues Bâtiment International, XYZ Reality and FieldAI. They will discuss how main contractors decide which robots make it onto site. The other asks whether megaproject clients can design robotics in from the start. It features Ben Wagenaar, senior innovation manager at HS2, alongside Stephen Henley of data centre developer Digital Realty, Mechasys and Hyperion Robotics.
A short session on regulation, liability and insurance features AIRA and Qbot, OpTech Robotics and BSI. Later, Erik Sjödin, who leads McKinsey's engineering, construction and building materials practice in Europe, asks whether a general-purpose humanoid robot belongs on a building site. Investors from Zacua Ventures, Foundamental and Brick & Mortar Ventures close the programme with their verdict on the sector. Bedrock Robotics chief executive Boris Sofman and FieldAI's Dr Ali Agha are listed for virtual addresses. A reception runs until the event closes at 19:00.
Robots on the floor
The organisers have named UCL, Hilti, Mechasys, Flo Mobility and Hyperion Robotics among the participants in the live demonstration area. They describe approaches ranging "from robotic bricklaying and automated timber production to drilling and layout technologies". Demonstrations run during the morning, lunch and afternoon breaks.
The venue suits a hands-on event. Here East occupies the former broadcast centre of the London 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford, and the organisers say an active robotics test area sits inside the campus. The nearest station is Stratford, about a five-minute shuttle ride or a 20-minute walk away.
Is it full, and how to follow it
Places are not sold on open release. Attendees "request clearance" and every application is reviewed. The organisers say the room is aimed mainly at buyers, meaning contractors, developers and asset owners, with robotics companies and investors making up the rest. On 29 October the organisers said they had "reached our initial event capacity" and were "working to open up additional passes". We have not seen any later confirmation that those extra passes have been released.
We could find no announced livestream or formal waiting list. Anyone still hoping to attend can apply through the official website, groundworkssummit.com. The organisers say people whose security systems block the form can email hello@groundworkssummit.com to register manually. For everyone else, the most likely places for coverage of the day are the organisers' own channels, including the Bricks & Bytes podcast and newsletter, and the event's listed media partners, which include Construction Management and AEC Magazine.
For an industry short of people and still losing workers to accidents, the real measure of Groundworks will come afterwards. It will depend on whether the contractors and clients in the room say which machines they have used, on what jobs and at what cost. Modern Robotics & A.I. will report on what comes out of the day.