Competitive Spirit, Collaborative Culture
There is something rewarding about watching colleagues compete together outside of their usual environment.
Yesterday, members of the West & West team took part in the Oxford round of Business Fives. We finished third overall in a competitive field, with Aurora Energy Research taking the top spot. It was a well-run event, supported by guest speaker Brian Horton, whose reflections on leadership and resilience resonated well beyond the game itself.
But the most valuable part of the day was not the final table.
Five-a-side football has a way of removing structure. There are no job titles on a pitch. No organisational charts. No formal reporting lines. What remains is communication, instinct and how individuals respond when momentum shifts. That is where culture becomes visible.
Apprentices played alongside senior team members. Project leaders defended alongside junior staff. Decisions were made quickly, mistakes were absorbed, and encouragement was constant. When matches tightened, voices became clearer rather than louder. When we conceded, the response was measured rather than frustrated.
It is not so different from a live construction environment.
Projects compress time and expectation in much the same way. Deadlines move. Challenges emerge. Pressure increases. In those moments, technical competence is assumed. What differentiates teams is cohesion, the ability to remain composed, support one another and make disciplined decisions under strain.
Watching our team compete reinforced something we value deeply: performance is collective.
There were no egos on display. Only effort, accountability and shared intent. Finishing third reflected competitive spirit, but the manner in which we competed reflected something more important, mutual respect and trust.
We also supported Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, a charity that provides accommodation and support for families with children in hospital. Being part of an event that combines healthy competition with meaningful impact aligns with how we believe business should operate, contributing beyond contracts and commercial outcomes.
For us, days like this are not about optics. They are about reinforcement. Reinforcing standards. Reinforcing identity. Reinforcing the behaviours that carry through to the projects we deliver and the environments we create for our people.
If culture is truly tested under pressure, then yesterday offered quiet reassurance.
We are proud of the result. We are prouder of the team behind it.
The event itself was exceptionally well organised, and we would like to thank Joey Burns and the wider Business Fives team for creating a day that balanced competitive spirit with genuine community impact. It is clear a great deal of thought goes into bringing local businesses together in a way that feels purposeful rather than performative.
