Chairman’s Report
JeCC AGM – 6th November 2007

It has been a busy year for the Board in representing our 102 member organisations and implementing the various items of the Business Plan adopted at last years AGM.

As we have a considerable amount of business to deal with this evening I shall keep my report brief as much of the activity of the past year will be carried forward into the Business Plan that the will seek your approval of under Item 6 of the Agenda and we shall review progress over the past year under that item.

However there has been notable progress on many items throughout the year which are worth reporting on here.

Raising the profile of the industry as a whole is a key objective of the Council and the success of the Jersey Construction Awards 2007 was a significant factor in the delivery of this aim with a record number of entries, over 400 people attending the gala presentation dinner and a post awards publication being distributed Island wide with the Jersey Evening Post.

The alignment with Durrell in the theme for the Awards and the concurrent project undertaken by the Brick Foundation to assist the tortoise breeding programme also added public interest to the work of the industry.

My thanks to Tim Darwin and his Awards Sub-committee for their hard work in organising the event.

On the subject of events the Education, Training and Professional Development Sub-committee have had a busy year organising a number of well attended seminars covering a range of topics including Building Contracts, Asbestos awareness, Employment Law and GST as well as hosting a stand at the recent Careers Fair where an encouraging number of youngsters displayed an interest in a career in the industry.

I would like to specifically thank Barry Le Beuvant for the considerable amount of time and effort he has put into organising this series of very successful events.

It is pleasing to report that the Standards and Conduct Sub-committee have had a very quiet year dealing with complaints demonstrating the high quality of service provided by our members.

This has allowed that sub-committee to concentrate their efforts on improving communication with the members, an item that was raised as a cause for concern at last years’ AGM

Two editions of our newsletter, Site Board, have now been issued which I hope you found informative. My thanks to our editor, Ian Wilson.

Significant work has also been undertaken over the last couple of months to completely overhaul the website and this matter will be explained further under Agenda item 9

You will have been aware from the press over that past few months of the concerns of a number of our members over the apparent ease with which ‘off island’ contractors are being allowed to trade on the island at the expense of local contractors.

This matter has been taken up by the Board with a number of meetings held with the Director of the Population Office and States members and we believe that this has resulted in a number of local firms now being approached and given the opportunity to tender

This lobbying and consultation with politicians and states bodies remains an important function of the Council which will continue in the forthcoming year.

I have a number of thanks you:-

To all my fellow board members for their commitment throughout the year and particularly to those who are standing down at this AGM.

You will have notice that your Chairman has changed since the last AGM with Paul Harding having to reluctantly stand down from office due to his ever increasing work commitments in the UK. Paul has been a driving force of the Council and its Chairman since its inception and I thank him for all work and commitment to the Board over that period.

Tim Darwin is not offering himself for re-election and he will be greatly missed at both Board meetings and the Construction Awards ceremony. – Thank you Tim for your two year chairmanship of the Construction Awards and your work on the Membership and Finance Sub-committee.

Judy Collins is stepping down from the role of Clerk to the Board and my thanks to her for all of her support again since the inception of the Council.

Her duties will be taken on by our recently appointed Executive Secretary, Caroline Harrington, who I would like to formally welcome.

Caroline joined us in September and we are already seeing considerable benefit from her role in administrative support of the Board members.

Finally to the members my thanks for your support during the past year. The Board is committed to continue to enhance the benefits of membership over the forthcoming year and we look forward to your continued involvement. The Council is here for your benefit so please make use of the facilities that your membership brings and enjoy good return for your subscription.