Highlights for members, May 2024 from your FMB Scotland Director

The doors of our Scotland office opened early on 9 May as we welcomed some local members for a builders’ breakfast. Strong coffee and bacon rolls fuelled the conversation over clients, architects, retentions, contracts and apprentices. There were also some helpful ideas of where and how the FMB could direct its efforts in Scotland. We think this initiative is worth repeating and I’ll discuss with your Scotland Board if we can run a breakfast gathering in Glasgow and elsewhere in Scotland.

Esteem Training Masterclass

Glasgow was the location for our second business coaching masterclass led by Esteem Training. Although I couldn’t stay for long, it was a pleasure to welcome members including Martin & Son Builders, A Plus Design & Construction Ltd, Decorous and Lilium Homes.

Openreach Learning and Development Centre

Further east the FMB’s partners Openreach welcomed me, Stephen O’Neill and Graeme Church of McTaggart Construction to their Learning and Development Centre in Livingston. Whilst most FMB members deliver refurbishment and/or renovation projects for homeowners, small-scale housing developers are part of the FMB community in Scotland. Openreach understandably being keen to show us on how their network works and the importance of gigabit capability in new homes.

Promoting the FMB brand to clients

Homeowners looking for builders to deliver building projects ranging from renovations and extensions to bespoke new homes, were the target audience at the SEC in Glasgow for the Homebuilding and Renovating Show. 

With help from members including Stuart Livingstone, Pam Wilson, Lee Cairns and some of the team from Q Build, we pointed hundreds of potential clients towards FMB members.

FMB Scotland Board nominations

My thanks to everyone who spoke with me or my colleague Simone McAllister regarding our Scotland Board nominations. It’s great to have such interest from members in putting themselves forward to help fellow members and the FMB. With 13 candidates for 9 spaces, an online election is underway, if you haven’t cast your vote already you have until 31 May to do so. Your current Scotland Board met on 16 May, so it will be interesting to find out how members have voted and who will sit on the Board come our AGM and event for members in June.

Passivhaus

Other highlights from me included co-chairing a meeting of the Cross-Party Group on Construction in the Scottish Parliament. With John Swinney becoming Scotland’s First Minister, there hasn’t been a significant reshuffle of the relevant Ministers I have previously been engaging with. Continuity being a positive here.

Finally, FMB’s Scotland President Alastair Raitt and I attended an evening discussion on Passivhaus in Leith. My thanks to Clare Booth at Coldwells Build for sharing their insights as contractors on all things Passivhaus with me.

Authors

Gordon Nelson

FMB Scotland Hub Director, Federation of Master Builders

Director, Federation of Master Builders Scotland

Gordon has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles. Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. Gordon is the Secretary of the Cross-Party Group on Construction in the Scottish Parliament, and he is a member of the Scottish Building Standards Futures Board. Gordon represents the FMB on Scotland’s Construction Industry Collective Voice: which is comprised of the leading construction trade and professional bodies. In spring 2023 Gordon was appointed as an industry co-chair of the Construction Leaderships Forum’s (CLF) Transformation Board.

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