Blog - Fri 20th January

Tues, 17th January
Talent Stepping down…

One of the pioneers of ‘Construction Best Practise Clubs', which as we all know are now called ‘Constructing Excellence Clubs' (OK, maybe not all of us knew that fact, but a good one or two of us were well aware…) the founding Chairman of the London Central Club, ex-Bovis Lend Lease Director Barry Burman, has finally ‘hung up his gavel' and retired.

Ebullient, debonair and personable, Barry was the ideal person to get the ball rolling back in January 2001, when the London Central Club was formed. A key member of the team who produced the highly acclaimed Bluewater retail development in Kent, Barry had vast experience of not just the industry, but more importantly integrating design and construction teams to realise innovative products, process and services.

At the same time Barry was leading the charge in the capital's central area, ‘across the water' Andrew Bowles, a partner with Sheppard Robson, was heading up the ‘Brave Hearts' forming the London South Club.

January 2004 saw the two clubs merge so as to bring their energy and knowledge together and focus solely on one club for the London region. Barry became the new club's Chairman, while Andrew took up the reins as his trusty ‘Deputy'.

At the AGM on Tuesday evening, Andrew was elected the new chairman. An architect of repute with a real and passionate desire to improve our much-maligned industry, Andrew will prove to be a worthy successor.

Yeah, so, here's wishing Andrew all the very best as he commences his term of office, whilst simultaneously tipping our hats to Barry in recognition for his sterling efforts and commitment over the last six years to spread the word and get our noble (if not a tad sham-bolic at times) industry into learning from the best; the very essence of best practise.

Wed, 18th January
Talent Scouting…

Hot on the trail of the London Constructing Excellence Club's AGM, was a meeting in the wilds of Leicestershire for Constructing Excellence's National Clubs Working Group. Chaired by the irrepressible Andrew Carpenter, representatives of the UK's clubs and Constructing Excellence (CE) chief operating officer, Don Ward, discussed the way forward for ‘Year 6' of the club network.

The overriding problem facing the erstwhile Group is to both sustain the rather meagre number of 36 existing clubs across its 12 UK regions, whilst growing the network with some 20 new ‘debutant' clubs.

So…who's up for the challenge? Who is willing to put their time and effort where their mouth is and support and assist our industry raise its game, by forming a ‘Local' Constructing Excellence Club?

With an ‘Olympic Summit' up and coming on Tuesday next (24th) with the ‘Gang-of-Four'; Seb Coe; Tessa Jowell; Ken Livingstone and recently appointed Paul Deighton, gathering with the great and good of construction to outline their needs to design and deliver the 2012 Games, CE desperately needs to demonstrate our industry is healthy and vibrant at it grass roots level; its project management practitioners.

Like a good athlete, construction needs to ‘up' its training regime in preparation for the big day…or loose out on the medals.

Talent Stepping Up…

Attending the Sir Ian Dixon Scholarship Awards at the rather wonderful Haberdashers' Hall in the EC1 area of the capital this evening, quite apart from getting to rub shoulders with charming people from the CIOB, ROK and Kier (…and enjoying one of the most delicious ‘Light Buffets' I have ever experienced!!) I got to hear two young and talented site managers present their respective research projects. ROK's Pippa Trout on changing the industry's mind-set and Kier Western's Tim Smith on the merits of part-time / day release as opposed to full-time graduate education.

Pippa ‘played safe', gripped the Lectern throughout and answered questions from the floor with ultra caution. She obviously delighted the on looking ROK chief executive, Garvis Snook, as she waxed lyrically about ROK's excellent culture of business process improvement. All set against a backdrop of an extremely upbeat and positive PR-like ‘PowerPoint' displaying images to support these claims.

Conversely…Tim was confident energy and enthusiasm personified and had all of the on looking Kier team nervously sitting on the edge of their seats! He threw caution to the wind and gave his presentation ‘both barrels'! Like a seasoned stand-up comedian, Tim strode the stage, used the Lectern as a prop, answered questions from the heart and used his PowerPoint to support his research findings…not his employers ‘merchandise'!

Well done to both of these highly talented 20-somethings, may they have long, successful and hugely enjoyable careers…and let's hope too that Tim's maverick style is never eroded by the cynicism of age! Our industry needs balance. Calm and cautious ‘Pipa's' as well as frantic and spontaneous Tim's.

Are you listening all you ‘convention-loving' HR departments out there in construction-ville?

Thurs, 19th January
Talent Swiping…

I spent a highly enjoyable and educational day today, working with the Army down in deepest Wiltshire. I have to say, they are a very disciplined, hard working bunch and I am so glad they are defending, not attacking, these shores. They are a very impressive fighting force.

They know the business they are in, appreciate and nurture their talent and both ‘think' and ‘look' out of the box to innovate.

Quite apart from seeking knowledge from within and across similar ‘Armed Forces' around the world, they also ‘creatively swipe' from other ‘businesses'. Like ours for instance. Representatives from the Army recently undertook site visits to review such highly praised developments as BP Sunbury, BA Waterside and HM Treasury, to name but a few, to seek evidence on how the design enables and supports new and better ways of working.

The end game is for the Army is to underpin its culture of integrated working to maximise the effectiveness of its staff.

Maybe we should return the compliment and get up a delegation from CE to ‘creatively swipe' from the Army on Leadership and nurturing talent?

Like I mentioned Tuesday, we should learn from the best; the very essence of ‘Best Practise…'

And Finally…

"Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it."

Samuel Johnson

Ciao 4 Now!
eKb