Change at the top within The Institute of Construction Management

As current President Les Helliwell comes to the end of his successful two year reign, the IConstM have announced the key figures who will take the institute forward for the next six years.

The AGM on Saturday, 21st June 2014 at the Parkway Hotel, Cwmbran (which will be followed with a dinner dance on the same evening to welcome in the new officers), will rubber stamp the following appointments:-

President:- Gary Francis
Vice President:- Cliff Brown
Junior Vice President:- Kevin George

The task facing the new heads will be to increase both membership and revenue for the institute and to ensure that the "Competency Register" is up and running immediately following the AGM.

Regular readers of this site will know that John has been a council of management member of IConstM for the last year, but he has decided that, owing to a growing workload, he can no longer offer the time required to attend the meetings but he will remain a member of the institute and continue to encourage IDE members to join.

If you are a manager in construction, or in a construction related occupation such as demolition, then why not apply for institute membership by visiting the IConstM website and downloading an application form.

Institute of Construction Management names their Manager of the Year for 2013

The IConstM, of which John is a Fellow, has decided upon the winner of their Manager of the Year for this year.

Clifton Brown – Manager of the Year 2013
Cliff has been a very active member of the Institute since the late 1980s when he was nominated for membership. He immediately immersed himself in South East Region activities and became the Region’s Delegate on the Governing Council when meetings were still being held in London.

Cliff was elected Junior Vice President of the Institute in 1998 and was the first President to hold office for two years for which he received a Fellowship, having changed the structure of the ICM to its present form. After his Presidency Cliff continued to attend meetings as the South East Region Delegate but later took on the role of Director of Education. He is an active member of the South East Region, at one time holding the offices of Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Social Secretary.

Cliff worked his way through the ranks with James Longley, from labourer to Ganger Man to Site Manager. His career has spanned every aspect of construction having been involved in refurbishment/rebuild, enabling work and small to multi-million pound projects.

Through undertaking every course and lecture available to him Cliff has obtained a very wide knowledge of construction and has always given 101% to every job he has been involved with whether costing a few thousand pounds or multi-million pounds, even on two occasions living for several months on site in a cabin when vandalism threatened the buildings.

Wanting to experience working abroad Cliff took a six month contract working in Gibraltar. On his return to England he was employed as a Project Manager, a post he held for five years during which time he was involved in various building projects the last being the building of prestigious flats in four phases each phase coming out on time and on budget.

Earlier this year when work dried up for his office, he was made redundant but after a very short break he commenced work on a site locally being employed to manager the building of luxury flats on an idyllic site overlooking the sea.

Fantastic carpentry skills from years ago

Les Helliwell, the IConstM President, used to be a carpenter before he became a project manager and we have spent many an hour discussing whether today's workers could reproduce the quality of previous generations and we both have our doubts.

My doubts have increased now after Les sent me this film of a fantastic piece of furniture. Please watch it to the end as the last seconds sum up the supreme skills on show.

Ian Trickey retires from Institute of Construction Management

John attended the IConstM AGM in Chichester last weekend and during the AGM the IConstM President Les Helliwell took time out from the official business of the day to present a gift voucher to Ian Trickey who retired from his position as membership secretary. Ian has given fantastic service to the institute and his retirement will mean that he will certainly be missed.

The photo shows Les Helliwell on the left presenting the gift voucher to Ian.

IDE try to foster closer relationship with Institute of Construction Management

IDE President Terry Quarmby and Vice President John Woodward, attended the 50th Anniversary Ball of the Institute of Construction Management in Southsea on Saturday 6th February to try to foster a better relationship between the two institutes.

Terry and John, who are both members of IConstM, met with the National Vice President, Regional President and Vice President and a number of Past Presidents of IConstM to discuss how the two institutes could grow closer together with the staging of joint regional meetings, encourage IConstM members to attend IDE events (particularly seminars) and encourage IDE members to apply for membership of IConstM.

The meeting went well with the agreement that the IDE will notify IConstM of all planned events and IConstM will do the same. Terry and John agreed to attend regional IConstM events in their respective regions and will review the relationship in 6 months and gauge its success.

John Woodward