Dear friends and professional colleagues,
I hope I find you all fit and well as I start to pen my sixth president’s page in my year of office as your President.
This has been a busier month regarding ABE business. I started September by attending the RIBA inauguration in their wonderful HQ in Portland Place in London on Friday 9th. The event celebrated the Presidency of outgoing RIBA President, Ruth Reed, and the inauguration of the incoming President, Angela Brady. The dress code on the invitation said ‘stylish’! My good lady just burst out laughing when I asked what does stylish mean. I ended up wearing a black suit, can you believe? To slim me down and make me look stylish, of course!
Now, I know Geordies aren’t renowned for being shy in coming forward and, despite the vast number of attendees, I managed to chat with Ruth and her two daughters before activities commenced and then give a quick handshake and congratulations to Angela after she was formally inaugurated. Ruth was the first lady president of the RIBA and by all accounts she’s done them proud in her two years of office. Angela is a fiery Irish lady who comes with a very impressive CV and pedigree; she gave a great inauguration speech and will, I’m sure, be a great representative for the architectural profession. I also bumped into Barry Le Beuvant and Francesca Berriman, the President and CEO of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists, and Peter Hansford, the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. I had no idea the ICE was so big, they have around 80,000 members worldwide and Peter has been all over the world in his year of office.
My second event, which I attended with our CEO, John Hooper, on 13 September, was the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) President’s Reception in London. This was held in the impressive London Transport Museum in Covent Garden and thankfully there was an opportunity to have a good look around the museum before the event commenced. The event celebrated the Presidential year of Mick Henman, who is an ABE member. He gave a great and heartfelt speech updating attendees on the sterling work and future plans of LABC and stating how proud he is to have represented the organisation in his year of office. He was also proud to present a cheque for over £22,000 to his chosen charity, the British Heart Foundation. This was particularly relevant to Mick as he survived a heart attack a few years ago. The incoming president, Mike Sansom, was introduced by Mick and takes office at the end of September. Mick now takes over as Chairman of the LABC Board.
I took advantage of the networking opportunity and chatted to a number of attendees representing a wide range of organisations, including Bill Black, who chairs the ABE Awards Panel, Robert Biggs, an ABE past President who was there in his role as Chair of the Considerate Constructors Board, Chris Blythe, CIOB CEO, Bob Shelley, President of the Heating and Ventilating Contractor’s Association, Paul Everall, CEO of LABC, who sits on the ABE Awards Panel and many more!! All in all, a great event.
On 15 September I attended an interesting Northern Region CPD event, at our usual venue in Gateshead, entitled ‘Paint & Fire Spread – The Problem & Solution’ and in particular ‘Flame Retardant Coatings’. The event was well attended and the speaker, David Spicer of Crown Paints, spoke in detail about how walls and ceilings are major contributors to spreading fire in buildings across painted surfaces; he also spoke about the legislation, which has generally been reactive, how it affects us all, and the solution of applying flame retardant paints.
He played some videos showing spread of fire tests demonstrating the significant difference in fire spread rate on normal paints compared to flame retardant paints. An informative question and answer session followed the presentation, then the usual opportunity to network and catch up with members and colleagues.
On 27 September I caught a train down to London to attend the regular ABE Awards Panel Meeting.The meeting was at the usual venue, the Union Jack Club, and chaired proficiently and professionally by Bill Black, who is an ABE Life Member, Life Vice President and Distinguished Service Award recipient. The Association offers several awards such as Honorary Fellowship, the Peter Stone Award and the British Building Maintenance Award.
I reiterate a point I’ve made earlier in that giving appropriate awards and recognising great achievement is a vital part of ABE business in my view, and I would encourage all members of the Association to consider and put forward any people, projects, schemes or buildings that they may feel are worthy of being recognised and honoured with one of our awards.
As I close this month I’m due to head off to our HQ in Northampton to attend a board member induction on 7 October, then to chair the Board meeting on 8 October.
Kind regards to you all
Colin
Colin Bell BSc (Hons) PBEng FBEng FCIOB MRICS
President
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