The Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) is central to ensuring the future health of the industry through education and training, the organisation’s president has said.

Speaking at the Association’s President’s Luncheon, Jim Marner also highlighted recent decisions by the government to reduce its support for renewable energy production, which included cuts to the Feed-in Tariff scheme, to affirm the B&ES’ commitment to reducing emissions within the industry.


He pointed to the importance he sees in prioritising education and training to offset the effects of the current skills shortage that threatens industry growth.


Mr Marner said: “We live and work in an ever more globalised marketplace in which initiative, innovation and continuous improvement are essential to our prosperity and survival – and in which fair dealing and security of payment are crucial to the strength and stability of the supply chain,” he said.


Mr Marner added that it was the duty of any responsible industry organisation to establish and maintain quality, promote co-operation, collaboration and teamwork, and ensure its members provided the best possible service to customers and clients.


It was inevitable that much of the Association’s focus was on commercial matters, he said. This included tackling the damaging effects of late payment, the elimination of waste, the maximisation of efficiency, competitiveness and smarter working, and the reintroduction of partnering arrangements, negotiated contracts, two-stage tendering and preferred supply chain agreements.


“[The organisation] also addresses the growing importance of education and training at every level of the workforce in ensuring that we recruit and retain the required calibre and number of highly skilled and highly motivated individuals,” Mr Marner said.


Nor did it ignore the fierce debate that continues to surround energy efficiency, the reduction of carbon emissions from buildings and the creation of a genuinely sustainable built environment.


“There has been some concern over the recent evidence of a potential weakening of resolve on the part of the UK government in its commitment to the creation of a low-carbon economy,” he said.


“But we remain absolute in our own commitment to the development of sustainable building services, to the integration of renewable and environmental technologies in buildings – and to the achievement of emission reduction targets that will place the UK in the vanguard of the environmental revolution.”


Mr Marner said that one of the first duties of his presidential year had been to confirm the appointment of Paul McLaughlin in the role of B&ES chief executive.


“[Mr McLaughlin’s] broad commercial experience and his expertise in trade association management at the highest level will provide additional drive, energy and vigour to every aspect of the Association’s activities,” Mr Marner said.


“You may rest assured, therefore, that the B&ES is able, willing and determined to manage the changes that the future will inevitably bring – so that neither its members, nor the industry at large, will miss out on the opportunities they will present.”