CPA Bulletin

FROM THE CEO FROM THE CEO www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > December 2018 7 CPA AGM At the Association’s AGM in early October, Steven Mulholland was elected to the position of Chairman of the Association. Steven, founder of Mulholland Plant Services, was formerly Vice-Chairman and thanked his predecessor, Steve Cormack of Nationwide Platforms, for the work he had carried out for the Association during his time as Chairman. Also at the AGM, Paul Allman, Director of the Hawk Group, was elected to the position of Vice-Chairman. Brian Jones was confirmed in post as President, as was Bob Collins as Immediate Past President. On behalf of Council, the President expressed thanks to Danny Griffin who had served as a Trustee for many years, as well as formerly filling the roles of Chairman and President. A full list of Council members is in Association News on page 9. I welcome the new Council members and post-holders and look forward to working with them. At the meeting, Brian Jones, CPA President, said “I am very much looking forward to working more closely with Steven, Kevin and the CPA Council to take the association forward in its next stage of development. I am confident that we have a strong team in place to tackle the challenges that the sector faces, such as the effect of Brexit on the workforce, and the many changes we are seeing in the skills and training arena. We will continue to look for efficient and economic solutions to support our Members and the construction plant hire sector.” Modernisation of construction The construction plant sector needs to be ready for a major shift towards off-site construction, that has been forecast for some time but now seems to be gaining momentum and becoming significantly more widespread. In 2017 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that five central government departments would favour offsite construction in its procurement. This signalled that the government was committed to leveraging its buying power to support the modernisation of the construction sector. Increasing use of offsite construction will change the profile of loads and lifting that is carried out, as large area panels or bigger modules become widespread. Demand for the most appropriate machinery, and for the right skills profiles for example in slinging large loads – will grow. Currently, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that the level of investment in industry innovation appears to be very low, with data showing construction to be the lowest performing industry when comparing research and development spend across different UK industry sectors. One outcome of this is that the rate of change and innovation can only increase, and a forward-looking view will be necessary to avoid being left behind. Government is currently consulting on what changes are needed within construction, including in relation to technologies, skills and commercial models for the increasing use of off-site construction to be successful. We will be consulting with Members in the new year, and will respond on behalf of the plant sector.