HVCA PRESIDENT SAYS GOVERNMENT’S CONSTRUCTION STRATEGY REPRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY THAT MUST BE GRASPED
16 September 2011 – The UK must adopt the Government’s proposed Construction Strategy “enthusiastically and unequivocally if it is to have any prospect of meeting the challenging carbon reduction targets to which it is already committed,” HVCA president Bob Shelley has warned.
Speaking at the annual HVCA President’s Luncheon, held this year at Shakespeare’s Globe in London on Wednesday 7 September, Mr Shelley addressed a large audience of VIPs including representatives from both houses of parliament and senior civil servants. He said, “I am delighted that this potentially revolutionary document contains many recommendations for which the specialist engineering sector has been lobbying for as long as most of us can remember including improved integration across the supply chain, standard forms of pre-qualification, the elimination of wasteful processes and a fair payment regime for all.
“I do feel however the need to point out that the really hard work remains to be done. I refer, of course, to the delivery of these concepts; the turning of the vision into reality.
“The fact is that we have had our hopes raised all too often in the past, by reports containing fine, brave words which in the event – to quote William Shakespeare – soon ‘lost the name of action’.
“This time, though,” Mr Shelley continued, “there is at least one additional driver for change,” referring to the Construction Strategy document published by the Cabinet Office in May of this year.
“I draw a great deal of reassurance from the fact that the new Construction Board, which will oversee the delivery process, will be chaired by the Government’s own chief construction adviser, Paul Morrell. Since his appointment to what was then a new position almost two years ago, Paul has demonstrated not only a deep understanding of the construction process, but also a welcome readiness to pay heed to the views of all industry interests, and to take these into account when reaching his measured, carefully considered conclusions.”
Mr Shelley told his audience that in the quest for a low-carbon economy, HVCA members are now routinely acknowledged as experts in the integration of renewable technologies into both residential and non-residential buildings. He affirmed that the HVCA is constantly reviewing the skills and competencies of its members, along with the qualifications that underpin them, to ensure they are consistent with current and future requirements.
In closing his speech, Mr Shelley expressed his hope that the Construction Strategy document can “provide the blueprint for a programme of root-and-branch reform that is both sorely needed and overdue. As Shakespeare also remarked, ‘there is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune’. It is my belief that such a tide awaits us now – and that we miss it at our peril.”
Ends
Issued on behalf of the HVCA by Next Step Marketing Ltd
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Notes to Editors
The HVCA represents the interests of firms active in the design, installation and maintenance of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Its membership comprises over 1,400 companies with 2,000 offices throughout the UK, a combined turnover of £4bn and a workforce of 55,000. HVCA members are subject to regular, third-party inspection and assessment of their technical competence and commercial capability.
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