Planning the Future
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
As Chair of the Faculty, which was launched in September 2007, Kevin is keen to stress how important giving voice to members is to his Chairmanship.
“We’ve always had to ensure that what we were doing was meaningful, and I don’t think we’ve lost sight of that from the first inception of the idea,” he says. “The aims and aspirations of our members are central to our business planning – we’re here to deliver what they want. I’ve talked to colleagues all over the country, and I know that what they want is a Faculty linked into the strength of an organisation like CIOB, which has a strong and international presence. Within that framework, they need to be able to get their voice heard, and to shape the direction of the faculty.”
Kevin, a former LABC president, got involved at the very beginning of the new Faculty, when he was asked to contribute to the working group which steered it into existence.
However, in order to lead the new Faculty, he had am important hurdle to overcome – he needed to become a member of the CIOB himself!
Although no stranger to gaining qualifications, this was a new challenge for an experienced professional, who started as a trainee in Building Control back in 1970. He worked his way up at several local authorities, ending up in Peterborough city council in 1983, where he became principal building control surveyor. In 1997, he took on the role of building control manager for the same authority.
“I’ve had many roles,” he says, “but they all related to building control. It’s a fairly typical career path although some of my colleagues come from the trades, but more and more people now coming in at the start of their career and working their way through.”
For Kevin, his progression was due to being mentored and trained as well as to examinations. He’s also a member the ABE and the RICS.
“These were the qualifications that you achieved along the way,” he says. “It’s just part of the journey. Now, qualifications are much more relevant than they used to be. And there are so many open to us now – there are NVQs, degrees, and experienced-based qualifications. There are various ways in to Building Conttrol.”
So, how would his career to date shape his route into the CIOB? After all, Building Control is a separate discipline. How well did he find the process matched his capabilities?
“The culmination of the process is when you sit the professional review,” he says. “But before that, I had to fill in a template with examples which demonstrated my competence in various areas. Management and liason, for instance. Also, I had to show my knowledge of technical standards.”
The interview is based on the template, and is geared to allow a candidate to demonstrate their competencies.
“There was a panel of three people from various areas of the built environment,” says Kevin. “I don’t think they were building control surveyors, but they certainly asked searching questions. It was daunting, but the main challenge was giving the initial presentation within the given time limits. The presentation is based upon what you wrote in your template, but I used the opportunity to take things a stage further, and offered some explanations on what I’d written in my professional review. The time constraints are tight – I’d recommend that candidates need to practice in front of a clock to ensure each area is given equal time!”
Luckily, Kevin, like many in his profession, is used to talking to people in different disciplines.
“Presentations to customers, clients, technical presentations……it’s all part of the job,” he says, “so it’s not such a daunting task for me. I would say to colleagues, make sure you’re confident in front of people, most of us have those skills by the time we’re ready to apply for CIOB membership.” It’s no surprise that these skills now come naturally to Kevin. As he points out, there has been private sector competition since 1985, which changed how they work with their customers. The emphasis is now on performance-based service delivery, so marketing and promoting the departments’ strengths in now key to Kevin’s role. The public sector is learning to offer the same single point of contact to national clients that they could expect in the private sector, so dealing with major players such as Sainsbury’s is all in a day’s work to Kevin.
Nevertheless, going for a new qualification was still a challenge to Kevin.
“It’s a long while since I’ve had to do that,” he says, “so it was a challenge, but I actually found the process very enjoyable. The interview recognises what you do, your competencies in your day-to-day job. I found the whole process very relevant and very fair, and would recommend it to any aspiring building control surveyor.”
Kevin is now busy planning the upcoming Faculty conference, scheduled for the 12th of November, where the CLG will be providing the keynote speaker.
“It’s an appropriate time to gather together the practitioners, architects, contractors and town planners – everyone with a stake in the system. We want to give them a chance to say, whilst the government are there, what they would like to see from the system. CLG are fully engaged and looking for our feedback.”
The truly exciting thing about the new Faculty, in fact, is this ability to put expertise in standards within the heart of an institute which is unequalled in its breadth of representation across the built environment disciplines. At a time when its vital to build a system which can deliver a sustainable future, the CIOB is uniquely qualified to bring all the key stakeholders together to work towards a solution.
Kevin is keen that they should ensure that the new regime builds on the best of the past.
“Building failures due to non-compliance and major unplanned developments are virtually non-existent,” he says. “We produce safe and healthy buildings – so the system is already doing a good job. But we need to work together to meet the new challenges of the new century.”
There’s a lot of interest from Building Control professionals in the new Faculty. As Kevin says, it’s a win-win situation. The Faculty offers them a route into gaining a valuable qualification. It also gives them a chance to network with the people they meet in their working lives, and to influence the way we build our future through a new platform for involvement. Just like gaining the coveted MCIOB qualification, it’s bound to be a challenging process at times. But involvement in the new Faculty could also be both enjoyable and extremely worthwhile.
