Ward’s Words: December 2017

Constructing Excellence

It was good to see so many members at the annual conference on December 12th and I hope you found it a valuable day. Thanks and much appreciation go to G4C and our organising team. Over 150 people were there, despite the bad weather which delayed plenty of people including ourselves. A feature was the number of guests and paying delegates who reported how much they had enjoyed it and been made to feel extra welcome by you! We are arranging follow-up meetings in the new year to get to know them better and to invite them to join as national members.

Over 300 people joined us for some or all of the event via twitter and the ‘periscope’ video link, which is interesting and worth further analysis and trials to see whether we have hit on a channel which people like for streaming live content. Check out here for example for the first panel discussion featuring our co-chairs with G4C’s co-chair Robin Lapish and Ann Bentley from the Construction Leadership Council, the other panels are also available via the website, see below for the links.

I hope you like the new annual report, which we presented at the conference, also please see the introductory video on our home page. We have received good feedback to the Words into Action campaign for 2018, which apart from anything else will see every meeting or event that we host finish with a slot for all participants to identify the actions they propose to take as a result of the session. We have also proposed the following National Membership Commitment, and I hope lead contacts will be ready for contact from us during January to confirm how much of this you will be able to support:

  • Pool data on project performance, to provide benchmark reports for each member,
  • Showcasing exemplars: 1. Your best case study (historical but recent); 2. Your best demonstration project (current/near future),
  • Grow the membership network: 1. The customer(s) and the supplier(s) that YOU need as members alongside you in order to improve together,
  • Grow G4C participation and support – and support the regional movement.

We need YOU to help US to help YOU please…. We will have a further discussion about this Commitment at the members forum on January 24, to which I hope each member organisation will send at least one delegate. Please also see below for other key dates in the calendar for the first quarter of next year, including the ECI conference in Amsterdam on Feb 21 and Parliamentary reception on March 22.

Finally, compliments of the season to everyone, and see you in 2018!