Constructing Excellence

Nuclear Theme Group
2016-04-28 10:00 - 15:00 UTC | Constructing Excellence in Wales, 2nd Floor, Longcross Court, 47 Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 0AD

National Clubs Day
2016-04-07 00:00 - 17:00 | AECOM, Aldgate Tower, 2 Leman Street, , London, E1 8FA, United Kingdom

BIM Theme Group
2016-03-23 11:00 - 13:00, 2015-12-02, 2015-07-01 | Leeds

Nuclear Theme Group meeting
2016-03-16 10:00 - 15:00, 2015-12-10 10:00 - 15:00

The Producers - CESW Adopt a School Campaign
2016-03-14 19:45 - 2016-03-19 23:30 | Merlin Theatre, Bath Road, Frome, Somerset, BA11 2HG, United Kingdom
The biggest challenge facing the UK construction industry currently is one of shortage of skilled workers, particularly on site where image of the industry is poor and also in construction management where little is known outside of the industry on the career options available. This is particularly true in the South West of England where growth in this sector will outstrip the rest of the UK.
In late 2014 the then Government’s Chief Construction Adviser, Peter Hansford, visited the South West with CESW CEO, Andrew Carpenter, and launched an ‘Adopt a School’ campaign. The idea is for construction related companies to ‘buddy up’ with their local schools to both improve the image of construction and promote it as a good career opportunity. CESW has taken up the challenge and through its Marketing & Communications Forum, chaired by Carol Heneghan of Halsall Construction in Peasedown St John, it has been working to make Peter’s dream a reality.
Through initiatives promoting successful school programmes that are already in place such as the ‘Class of your Own’ initiative, a GCSE programme providing a recognized qualification in the built environment, and the CITB Construction Ambassador scheme CESW members can have an even greater impact on changing perceptions of the industry. CESW is now looking to raise funds to support its own initiative to find eight volunteers from each of its nine ’Best Practice’ clubs to become CITB Ambassadors and promote and facilitate take-up of the Class of Your Own’ programme. Tom Green of SLR Consulting in Bradford on Avon has been providing valuable supporting material by mapping out potential schools and construction buddies particularly targeting schools with focus on STEM subjects.
Andrew’s son, Tom, appeared on BBC One TV’s ‘The Voice’ in January 2015 and in September 2015 Andrew organized a couple of concerts involving his son to help raise the much needed funds and also associate the industry with something more contemporary and therefore hopefully attract young people to enquire about what construction can offer. So successful were these concerts Andrew is taking the idea of associating the construction industry with the of the world of entertainment a step further inasmuch as he now intends to organise a fully staged production of The Producers from 14th – 19th March 2016 at the Merlin Theatre in Frome where he is a Board Member. Andrew says he can’t run marathons or climb mountains but he can put on a good show! He is no stranger to these ‘off the wall’ ideas and famously invited the actual puppets (and actors) from the children’s TV programme Rainbow to present at a business conference in Bristol in 2001 on the subject of supply chain management rather than having an architect and contractor present! The move did the trick as fifteen years on the sector is still taking about the event!
Andrew has invited a director, musical director, choreographer and talented cast & crew from the Frome and Bath area to make his idea a reality. It’s a show he’s wanted to do for many years and so thought he’s put his love of this Mel Brooks’ musical to good use by creating an activity to raise more funds and awareness for the CESW Adopt a School campaign. The production will see NVB Architects of Frome officially ‘buddy up’ with Frome College and the icing on the cake was when Martin Roberts, of BBC TV’s Homes under the Hammer fame joined the CESW Bath Club and agreed to be the patron for the CESW Adopt a School campaign. He will be visiting the Merlin Theatre on Monday 14th March to host the first night performance and make the Frome College/NVB Architects relationship ‘official’.
Martin Roberts is one of the UK’s most respected Property, Travel and Lifestyle TV presenters and journalists. Over the past 25 years he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio, ITV, CNN and Satellite TV Worldwide. He was a regular presenter on ITV’s top rated travel show ‘Wish You Were Here..?’ for 8 years and the travel editor of ‘Woman’ magazine for 15 years.
For over 12 years he has written and presented the hit BBC property auction show ‘Homes under the Hammer’, which is shown on BBC1, UKTV Home and TV Channels Worldwide and is now in its 20th series. He is a respected UK and Overseas Property expert, appearing as expert speaker on programmes such as ‘BBC Breakfast’, ‘BBC News 24’, ‘Sky Sunrise’, ‘Alan Titchmarsh Show’ the Jeremy Vine Show and BBC Radios 2, 4 & 5 Live.
Martin is also Author of the best-selling book Teach Yourself: Making Money from Property and the children’s book series The Villes
To book go to the CESW website: http://cesw.org.uk/events/view?eventid=101

Collaborative Working Champions / Procurement joint meeting
2016-03-08 10:00 - 15:00

Improving Value Through a Framework Alliance
2016-02-25 14:00 - 18:00
Don Ward is speaking at this King’s College event, which is free to attend, further details including how to register to attend can be found in the following form:
Booking Form

Sustainability Theme Group meeting on "The Circular Economy in Construction"
2016-02-25 10:30 - 15:00 | Saint-Gobain Innovation Centre, 95 Great Portland St, London, W1W 7NY

CE South West "Never Waste A Good Crisis" Event
2016-02-23 09:00 - 13:00 | Environment Agency, Horizon House, Deanery Rd, Bristol, BS1 5AH
Taking ‘best practice’ from two South West disaster areas in 2014.
Never waste a good crisis event flyer
Booking link

Constructing Excellence Member Forum - The Payment Minefield
2016-02-10 12:30 - 17:00 | Pinsent Mason, 30 Crown Place, Earl Street, London, EC2A 4ES , United Kingdom
Payment is simultaneously essential to business performance and one of the biggest and most emotive industry problems. This members forum will draw on members experience and industry expert views to get under the skin of this perennial challenge, both to understand its impacts and debate potential solutions.
This Forum will;

Explore the drivers that dictate when payments occur
Consider how a more transparent and collaborative industry might address the underlying issues
Ask what role new technologies that digitise payments could play in addressing common payment issues
Review the potential for alternative funding sources and how this might change the landscape
Consider the impacts on different industry players and seek to identify actions that might be taken

Agenda
Welcome and Introductions Don Ward, Chief Executive
Expert Session 1

Cliff Jones, Procure 21 – Clients perspective on creating a level playing field for the supply chain
Rob Driscol, Head of Commercial and Legal at B&ES – Impact of late payment on trades and thoughts on payment mechanisms
Colin Hardman, Associate Director restructuring and recovery at Smith & Williamson – The necessity of cash flow for business health

Panel discussion/debate
The Proposition: “Prompt payment makes business sense”
Group syndicates

G1 “Why is it necessary to delay payments?”
G2 “Why are prompt payments essential?”

Expert Session 2

Madoc Batcup, CE Funding & Finance Theme Group Leader – Funder interests and alternative funding/funders
Rob Taylor, Environment Agency – The benefits and challenges of Project Bank Accounts
Paul/Andy, Textura – The benefits of transparency

Panel discussion/debate
Proposition Review Feedback

G1 Summary – the need to delay payment
G2 Summary – the need to pay promptly

Plenary discussion – vote on the proposition – identify takeaway actions
This event is open to all national members of Constructing Excellence. To attend please email deborah.hynes@constructingexcellence.org.uk

Parliamentary Reception
2015-12-15 12:15 - 15:00

Procurement Theme Group meeting
2015-12-08 11:00 - 13:00

Collaborative Working Champions Meeting
2015-12-03 10:00 - 15:00

Beyond the Built Environment: the Constructing Excellence Annual Conference 2015
2015-11-11 10:00 - 16:00 | Lord’s Cricket Ground, Lord's Cricket Ground Saint John's Wood Road, London, NW8 8QN, United Kingdom
The 2015 Constructing Excellence Annual Conference is taking place on 11 November at Lords Cricket ground, and will consider a wide range of issues facing construction while looking ‘beyond the built environment’.
Waterloo Air Products plc are the lead sponsors of “Beyond the Built Environment”. You can read about Waterloo here.
This year’s conference aims to show how other industries are tackling a number of the key issues that are facing our industry, and that are set out in the Construction 2025 strategy.

The days speakers will demonstrate how their organisations deal with the same issues that we are faced with, issues such as:

Supply chain integration and collaborative working
Embracing, and the use of technology and data management
Importance of social value
Attracting young people into their industries

Our final speaker will be Andrew Wolstenholme OBE, CEO of Crossrail, who will show how everything we have heard during the day can and is being used within certain parts of the industry. The challenge we face is to make it the norm not the exception.
Confirmed speakers so far include:

Alex Dulewicz, Head of Marketing for Services – Rolls Royce
Kay Allen OBE, Founding Director – Trading for Good
Simon Troup, Head of Data Services – Open Sensors
Dr. Julia Glidden, President and Founder – 21c Consultancy
Tim McLoughlin, Head of Social Media – Saatchi & Saatchi

Speaker Biographies can be found below.
So please join us at what is sure to be an excellent event where we hope you will take away key messages and innovations that show how it can be applied within your organisation, and how we can take one step closer to excellence within the built environment and one step closer to our industry being the industry of choice for the next generation.

Sponsorship
This year we will also be offering an opportunity to position your brand alongside that of CEs in striving for excellence within our industry through sponsoring the annual conference.
There are a variety of sponsorship packages available and for further detail, on these sponsorship opportunities please contact Ben Pritchard (Ben.Pritchard@invennt.com) or Deborah Hynes (deborah.hynes@constructingexcellence.org.uk).
Those already booked in include attendees from:
BAE Systems, BPE Solicitors LLP, BRE, Cardiff University, CH2M, CL:AIRE, Clarkslegal LLP, Clarkson Alliance, Collaborative Working Group, Construction Industry Council, Crofton Design, Crossrail, Cutland Consulting Ltd, FaulknerBrowns, Galliford Try, Glenigan Ltd, Greenwood Consultants Limited, ICW, Imperial College London, Interserve Construction, Invennt, Kent County Council, Kier, Knauf, London Underground, Magnox, Marcel Mauer, Nationwide Building Society, nvirohaus, NWG, Pinsent Masons LLP, Polypipe Terrain, Property Pathfinder Ltd, pwcom.co.uk Ltd, Reuby Stagg, RIBA Enterprises/NBS, Rider Levett Bucknall, Royal Mail, Safehinge, SLR Consulting Ltd, Structural Timber Association, Suiko Ltd, Synaps Partners LLP, Textura, Trowers & Hamlins LLP, Turner & Townsend, UEA, UKSE Group, University of Edinburgh, University of Reading, University of Westminster, Visionality, Willmott Dixon, Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co LLP, WSP
Social Media
To engage with the event on social media in the run up and on the day itself please us the hashtag #BeyondBE
Speaker biographies

Andrew Wolstenholme OBE, CEO – Crossrail
Andrew has been a long term champion of the Constructing Excellence agenda, authoring the seminal 2009 review of the industry “Never Waste a Good Crisis”
Following 10 years at Arup, Andrew joined BAA in 1997. He went on to lead the delivery of the £4.3bn Terminal 5 programme and became BAA’s Director of Capital projects running the £10bn development programme across seven UK airports.
Andrew joined the Balfour Beatty Group in 2009 as Director of Innovation and Strategic Capability. He was awarded an OBE for services to the construction industry in the same year. Andrew joined Crossrail as CEO in 2011. He is also a member of Construction Leadership Council and is a Non-executive Director of the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Services Board.

Alex Dulewicz, Head of Marketing for Services – Rolls Royce
Presentation theme:
‘Furthering collaborative working and supply chain integration to deliver greater value’
In his role, Alex is responsible for the generation of marketing strategies, promotion of Rolls-Royce service messages and creation and delivery of services presentations that maximise the perceived value and competitiveness of the Rolls-Royce services portfolio. He works closely with the Service Development team to bring new service offerings to market that provide differentiation for Rolls-Royce and to provide analysis and feedback on Services competitiveness and perception in the market.
Click here to read more about Rolls Royce and Alex

About Rolls Royce Holdings plc

Rolls-Royce’s vision is to create better power for a changing world via two main business divisions, Aerospace and Land & Sea. These business divisions address markets with two strong technology platforms, gas turbines and reciprocating engines. Aerospace comprises Civil Aerospace and Defence Aerospace. Land & Sea comprises Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 380 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
Our business is focused on the 4Cs:

Customer – placing the customer at the heart of our business
Concentration – deciding where to grow and where not to
Cost – continually looking to increase efficiency
Cash – improving financial performance.

Annual underlying revenue was £14.6 billion in 2014, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £73.7 billion at the end of 2014.
In 2014, Rolls-Royce invested £1.2 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
Rolls-Royce employs over 54,000 people in more than 50 countries. Over 15,500 of these are engineers.
The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2014 we employed 354 graduates and 357 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes. Globally we have over 1,000 Rolls-Royce STEM ambassadors who are actively involved in education programmes and activities; we have set ourselves a target to reach 6 million people through our STEM outreach activities by 2020.

Speaker profile/biography
Based in Derby, Alex Dulewicz is the Head of Marketing for Services. In his role, Alex is responsible for the generation of marketing strategies, promotion of Rolls-Royce service messages and creation and delivery of services presentations that maximise the perceived value and competitiveness of the Rolls-Royce services portfolio. He works closely with the Service Development team to bring new service offerings to market that provide differentiation for Rolls-Royce and to provide analysis and feedback on Services competitiveness and perception in the market.
Prior to his current role, Alex was Customer Marketing Director, Middle East and South East Asia for the Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace division. He was responsible for working alongside the regional customer business teams to build strong customer relationships and identify future wide body engine sales opportunities for the Civil Business.
He joined the Company in September 2004 and previously worked as Customer Business Manager for Fast Jet & Helicopter Programmes in the Company’s Gas Turbines Services (GTS) Business. He completed two years in the Civil Operations Centre, Derby, managing the Trent 500 and Trent 800 in-service fleets.
Prior to joining Rolls-Royce, Mr. Dulewicz graduated from Warwick University with a Masters of Engineering & Management.
Outside work, Mr. Dulewicz is a qualified solo and formation skydiver with over 185 jumps to his name. He has an identical twin brother and enjoys slalom waterskiing, snow skiing and running half marathons.

Kay Allen OBE, Founding Director – Trading for Good
Presentation / theme:

What’s your reputation worth?
Do you promote all the good that you do to your customers as part of your strategic business plan? If not why not?
Learn how you can capitalise on the Social Value you generate

Kay is the Founding Director of 3 companies; Trading for Good, Really Useful Stuff and Diverse Advice – a CSR consulting firm. Previously a Non-Executive Director DWP Pension Disability and Carers Service, Kay is a well networked, high profile ambassador for equality and social action with a proven track record as an outstanding innovator in the private and public sector.
Click here to read more about Trading for Good and Kay

About Trading for Good
Trading for Good is a digital platform championing the good work of the UK’s small businesses. By capturing the social value they create, and giving them a forum for communicating that social value, Trading for Good encourages these businesses to do even more good for the community. It’s free and simple to sign up.
@TradingforGood
Speaker profile/biography
Kay is the Founding Director of 3 companies; Trading for Good, Really Useful Stuff and Diverse Advice – a CSR consulting firm. Previously a Non-Executive Director DWP Pension Disability and Carers Service, Kay is a well networked, high profile ambassador for equality and social action with a proven track record as an outstanding innovator in the private and public sector.

Simon Troup, Head of Data Services – Open Sensors
Presentation theme: Improving productivity through open data

Dr. Julia Glidden, President and Founder – 21c Consultancy
Presentation theme: Innovation through open data
President & Founder of 21c Consultancy, Julia completed her D.Phil. in International Relations at Oxford University and is an internationally recognised expert on Digital Government. Dr Glidden is currently serving as an expert advisor to the United Nations on the 2016 eGoverment Readiness Survey and its working group on ‘Ageing and the Data Revolution.’ Dr Glidden is actively involved the European Commission’s Smart City initiative, and is the founder of the pioneering EU project Citadel-on-the-Move which has helped over 140 cities across all six continents to open and use data. Julia is currently working with the British Standards Institute Smart Cities Working Group, BIM – which is developing Building Information Modelling standards for the global construction industry, W3C, the Open Data Institute and the Open Knowledge Foundation to help advance and promote practical bottom up open data standards. She is also a member of the European Commission’s expert working group on the new 2018/19 Horizon 2020 Programme.
An accomplished TedX speaker, Dr Glidden is regularly asked to speak on global ICT and innovation trends at forums around the world. Prior to launching 21c Consultancy, Julia served as Managing Director for Accenture eDemocracy Services where she wrote and delivered majored IT proposals for countries ranging from the United Kingdom to the Philippines and as a Senior Vice President at the international communications firm Fleishman Hillard where she oversaw multi-million public affairs campaigns for clients including United Airlines and GE Capital.

Tim McLoughlin, Head of Social Media – Saatchi & Saatchi
Presentation theme: Making an industry attractive: how you could do it
Tim McLoughlin is the head of social media for creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi. He leads social strategy for brands such as Toyota and Visa matching creative ideas to effective execution. He is passionate about how technology changes human behaviour and consumer engagement with brands, politics and sport. As a political blogger he was once named “one of the ten cleverest men in Britain” and comments regularly about politics on TV and radio.

Constructing Excellence National Awards 2015
2015-10-23 19:00 | London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, Grosvenor Square, London, W1K 6JP, United Kingdom

Constructing Excellence Members' Forum Autumn 2015
2015-10-14 12:30 - 16:30 | Pinsent Mason, 30 Crown Place, Earl Street, London, EC2A 4ES , United Kingdom
Our Autumn Members’ Forum will focus on our members’ theme groups and aims to improve members’ engagement with these themes, and enable them to get more value from the groups. This event will showcase the groups’ work, and attendees will hear about new outputs being launched by the different theme groups. As part of this event, we will also consult on any new topics that members would like to propose for future theme groups. We look forward to an interesting afternoon and hope as many members as possible will be able to attend.
The outline agenda for the event is as follows
Agenda
1. Welcome and Introductions
Don Ward, Chief Executive
2. Innovation in Practice Demonstration project: Öppen – John Rich, SRA Architects
3. New outputs from our theme groups
4. Breakout session and plenary feedback
‘What matters about (Asset Management, BIM, Collaborative Working, Funding & Finance, Nuclear, Sustainability and Procurement)?
5. Close
Murray Rowden, CE Chairman
To book onto the event, please contact Deborah Hynes on 07968 206 115 or deborah.hynes@constructingexcellence.org.uk

Sustainability Theme Group Meeting
2015-10-08 10:30 - 15:30

Procurement Theme Group Meeting
2015-09-30 14:00 | Leeds

Nuclear Theme Group Meeting
2015-09-23 10:00 - 15:00 | Factory 2050 AMRC, Factory 2050, Sheffield Business Park, Europa Avenue, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S9 1ZA, United Kingdom

KPI Annual Industry Report Launch
2015-09-17 10:00

Herts & Beds Constructing Excellence Club Planning Team
2015-09-11 09:30 - 17:00
Herts & Beds will be holding a H&B CE Club Planning Team Meeting at 9.30 am on Friday 11th September (venue TBC). We look forward to seeing members who have previously been involved, i.e. Kaschec Engineers, EMW Law, Big Idea Marketing, Panel 2 Panel, Salus, RDT Architects, Herts County Council, Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce, BRE, CSBD, Visionality and Mace but we would also be pleased to see some new faces as we will be looking at next year’s programme and how the Club plans to move forward and would appreciate your views.

Collaborative Working Champions Meeting
2015-09-10 10:00 - 15:00 | Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group, Lincoln House, 137-143 Hammersmith Road, London, W14 0QL, United Kingdom

ICE Nuclear conference 2015
2015-07-17 | One great george street, 1 Great George St, Westminster, London, SW1P 3AE, United Kingdom
The second ICE Nuclear conference will take place on 17 July 2015 in London, and looks to redefine the role of engineers within the nuclear industry.
By bringing experts from across the industry together with the engineers who actually deliver the infrastructure, the conference aims to:

Demonstrate how engineers are best placed to guide the industry through a changing landscape
Provide national and international perspectives covering the latest research and practice – from planning through to delivery

As the UK faces a substantial loss of generating capacity, energy security continues to be pushed to the forefront of the Government and energy industry’s agenda.
Engineers have the ability to act as a bridge between policy, industry and society. As such the ICE Nuclear 2015 conference provides a forum for discussion between all parties and a hub for knowledge transfer.
The programme will:

Provide comprehensive policy analysis
Outline investment and funding strategies
Offer detailed presentations on current national and international projects
Include dedicated sessions on enhancing skills and guaranteeing health and safety excellence
Cover the legal and commercial issues of decommissioning contracts

Register before 9 May to take advantage of the reduced registration fee.

Book online
Complete the registration form
Call us on +44 (0)20 7665 2226

ICE Events Team
events@ice.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7665 2226

The Future of BIM: Looking beyond 2016
2015-07-10
The Future of BIM: Looking beyond 2016 will provide an invaluable industry update on the BIM Level 2 adoption within the UK construction industry. Delegates will have the opportunity to hear how industry is currently transforming for 2016 and beyond to realise the opportunities and derive value.
From leading BIM experts and case studies delegates will gain a better understand BIM from the UK context, what it means for key industry stakeholders, where the industry is currently in its adoption, and how the industry is deriving value. Delegates will also examine how the UK Government Construction Strategy commitment to BIM will progress beyond BIM Level 2.

What are the benefits of attending?

The conference will outline best practice principles, lessons learnt, and demonstrate deriving value from investing in BIM.

Key issues and topics to be explored on the day:
•Understanding BIM and the UK context
•Defining the key elements of BIM Level 2
•How the industry are adopting BIM Level 2
•What How value is deriving BIM
•Understanding the implications for educating, training and upskilling the industry
•Digital lifecycle asset delivery and management
•Moving beyond BIM Level 2 – Digital Built Britain
• BIM from a global perspective
• Security-minded Digital Built Assets and Environments

For more benefits please visit the conference page
Contact Eleanor Leach if you are interested:
t: +44 (0) 161 295 0115
eleanor@onecpd.co.uk

Awarding Contracts Lawfully and Skilfully within the New Public Procurement Rules
2015-06-25 10:00 - 16:00 | The Caledonian Club, 9 Halkin Street, Belgravia, London, SW1X 7DR, United Kingdom
Discounted price for CE members: £139+VAT
Full line up of speakers

Members' Forum
2015-06-10 13:00 - 17:00 | AECOM, Aldgate Tower, 2 Leman Street, , London, E1 8FA, United Kingdom

Sustainable Businesses & Sustainable Cities Event
2015-06-10 09:30 - 15:30 | Grant Thornton, 30 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1AG, United Kingdom
Options: Attend morning, afternoon session or both
Morning session: Business Growth Service (BGS) presentation and workshop
Sustainable Growth for Sustainable Businesses
Identifying barriers to sustainable growth in your company
(B.G.S is the government funded service that helps SMEs to grow through grants for training, expert coaching & mentoring as well as access to finance for business growth.)
Afternoon session: SWIG working lunchtime event
Sustainable Cities – Urban Greening
Breathing easily and taking the sweat out of city summers
Can a city be a healthy place in a hot summer?

How to book your place
Book now by emailing contact details and address together with an indication
of which session(s) you would like to attend (am, pm or both) to info@sustainablewater.org.uk

Agenda09:30Registration
10:00Presentation and workshop from the Business Growth Service.
Identifying barriers to sustainable growthand how you can overcome them.

12:30 Buffet Lunch Kindly provided by Grant Thornton13:15 Introduction: Neal Landsberg Chair of SWIG & Marketing Director, Watermatic Ltd
Speakers’ Presentations:
Gary Grant Expert, independent ecologist, author and consultant

Transformational Urban Greening – ways that you can do this!Armando Raish MD, Treebox Ltd
Air Quality crises – new pathways to breathing easy in our cities
Zac Ribak MD, Watermatic Ltd. Specialist Installers
Practical Urban Greening – making it all work on the ground

15:00 Expert Panel Discussion
15:30 Formal Close – networking until 4:00pm
