As the digital and energy revolutions pick up pace, Rochdi Ziyat, CEO of VINCI Energies UK & RoI, reflects on the successes of 2021 and looks forward to an even brighter 2022.

2021 has been another extremely tough year for society but, as a business, VINCI Energies UK & RoI has done very well, and we have more than reached our targets. Our decentralised business model, where we empower our 27 highly specialised, human-sized business units across the UK and Ireland, has enabled us to adapt quickly to changing market needs – and I am so proud of the resilience, ingenuity, and motivation of our community of incredible people. We are a driven team, dedicated to our customers and our communities, that really wants to support each other to succeed. The network is the company, and we keep each other going.

Concern for the environment driving the implementation of smart grids

The environment and how the energy transition can help has been brought sharply into focus this year – and I would like to thank all the grid operators that placed their trust and confidence in us to help render the grid smarter. Through our Omexom brand, we have contributed to some top innovative projects, such as the Smart Wires project with National Grid, which was a great experience.

Investment plans are kicking in and there is a lot more to come as we move from around 30% renewable energy in the UK to carbon neutrality. This is a target we strongly believe in as a group. Last year we announced our VINCI Group target to cut our CO₂ emissions 40% by 2030 and, in the UK & RoI, we have already saved 29% in this first year. Of course, we have been helped by working from home and it is easy to get the low hanging fruit. It will be more difficult to make reductions later on, but we are embracing this great news.

In the industrial field, we bounced back from the expected drop in manufacturing, especially in the automotive sector, by finding other strong industrial projects to work on – and the way the teams mobilised has been so impressive. At the same time, there has been increasing demand for our teams installing the charging infrastructure required for EV vehicles. Our Actemium industrial perimeter, for example, committed this year to switching entirely to EVs and other companies are doing the same, signaling a lot of potential for us in this area.

I’m also interested to see how some of the trends in the environment and renewables might affect manufacturing in 2022 and beyond. For example, the UK is already starting to manufacture products needed for the environment, such as EV batteries or components for renewable energy generation. We are experts in supporting manufacturers to increase their operational efficiency and are excited to accompany them on their journey.

Increasing investment in automation and digitalisation

Our Actemium Automation business units, meanwhile, have kept going strong. We have many customers in the food and beverage and pharmaceutical sectors and, of course, we have all continued eating, drinking, and needing medicines. The figures are very good, but this success doesn’t demonstrate the difficulties the teams encountered. The way they have risen to the challenge is nothing short of incredible – and the outlook for automation is brighter even still. Smart technology is the future, and the investment is ramping up.

And if you have smart technology, you need a secure and reliable ICT infrastructure, which is where our Axians brand comes in. We have been seeing a lot of demand for digital infrastructure, especially in warehousing and logistics management to speed up deliveries in line with the huge increase in e-commerce. Again, the investment is happening but there is still a lot more potential.

‘The Power of Three’ is capturing opportunities

The digital and energy revolutions are now becoming a reality – and our capabilities in energy infrastructure, industrial processes and ICT infrastructure puts us in an enviable position to capitalise on the opportunities. We call it ‘The Power of Three’ – but we aren’t here by chance. We have been strategically creating our own luck.

10 years ago, for example, we had no expertise in automation but now we have one of the strongest teams in the UK with 200 engineers able to programme everything that is smart. Similarly, we were not present in the high-voltage grid sector a decade ago and now we are one of the leading companies in this field in the UK and RoI. We also started dipping our toes in the nuclear sector three years ago with Actemium Design UK and Actemium Carlisle and our activity and reputation is growing all the time.

Developing our community of incredible people

Fast-paced business growth naturally comes with the challenge of recruitment. There is a distinct lack of skilled engineers, but we have an appealing business model that helps us attract more talent than our competitors and we invest in the long-term development of our people. Our graduate scheme that we launched five years ago is continuing to pay off and we are also sponsoring some of our youngsters to become graduates or even chartered engineers.

When I think back over the last year and look forward to an even brighter future, what strikes me the most about our business is the effort and achievement of our community of incredible people. Without this community, that is empowered, autonomous and hungry for success, we wouldn’t be where we are. I can’t say thank you enough – and am so proud and humbled to be a part of this team.