AGM and Luncheon

The FBE Annual General Meeting was held on 26 June in the splendid surroundings of Armourers’ Hall, home of the Worshipful Company of Armourers & Brasiers since 1346. Once the business formalities were concluded, members and their invited guests had a champagne reception in the Drawing Room, providing an ideal opportunity to make new contacts and greet old friends.

Members and guests then sat down to lunch in the magnificent Livery Hall, noted for its display of 16th and 17th century arms and armour. While coffee was being served, Kurt Calder, Director of Communications of the Construction Confederation, gave an address. He spoke about the Office of Fair Trading investigation into anti-competitive practices in the construction industry, and explained the work being done by the Construction Confederation to put some context into the debate and to limit the potential damage to the industry. While acknowledging that ‘cover pricing’ was common practice in construction some years ago, he argued that it was a relatively minor infringement – a point acknowledged by the OFT itself – and that in the main it did not have an anti-competitive effect on clients in the form of higher prices for their work. Changes in procurement practices with clients looking for best value rather than lowest price and contractors’ own compliance procedures have largely done away with the practice, he said. Kurt’s full text can be found here and it makes interesting reading.

Chairman Phil Laycock, having thanked Kurt for his speech, paid tribute to those standing down from the NMC, all of whom have given years of service to FBE and to the Faculty of Building at both branch and national levels. Tarsem Flora, Tony Kelley and Donald Macaskill stood down as at the AGM, and Andrew Owen will be doing so soon – their contribution to the management of the organisation will be missed.