Notes issued by: Graham Leech outgoing Regional Chair. (draft 10/11/2017 and this final 29/11/2017)) Notes ACTION 1. Attendees: Graham Leech Rebecca Fairclough Tony Banks Derek Bradshaw David Ashworth (GL) (RF) (TB) (DB) (DA) 1.a. Apologies: Dave Forshaw (DF) 2. Matters arising from previous Minutes: (meeting 11/07/2017) a) We have still not yet planned an event covering the subject of demolition b) Although Simon Fuller has cancelled or given apologies on each occasion he has been asked to speak, he gave some very useful and informative information during the interactive Health Matters and Schedule 3 talk led by Graham at DWF offices on 12 th October. c) Derek will attend the APS Council Meeting 22 nd November 2017 in Edinburgh. d) Graham has NOT made contact with Edward Blanchard of IIRSM northwest. e) No progress to report by Becki, Dave, and Graham on venues at Wigan/Haydock, Burnley/Blackburn, Lancaster University, and Macclesfield library. f) Derek completed contract with Novotel and Dave confirmed and liaised with speakers for Novotel event due next week 7 th November 2017. g) Dave still in liaison with HSE for suitable speaker for mental health talk. h) Rebecca Fairclough (Becki) and David Ashworth were both elected to the Committee at 26 th July 2017. No other NW members stood for election. i) Dave and David both attended the APS Annual Conference in Cardiff 5 th September and thought it mostly very good. Late afternoon speakers /topics were not so good and seemed to be more time fillers than useful to the event and delegates. j) No one on Committee attended the October APS Awards Ceremony. General feeling that the cost of travel and hotel in London was not worth it for the possible benefits to be had. k) The 1 st November National CPD held earlier this week at Cottons Hotel was attended by 3 committee members (a.m. session) and 2 members (p.m. session.) The Fire Safety & Timber Frame Developments a.m. talk and speaker was excellent. The p.m. speaker and talk on Effective Design Risk Management was very poor and possibly the worst experienced to date. l) Dave to distribute afresh the APS HQ email about the APS logo and how it can be used. m) All other matters and previous actions will be covered by this meeting s discussions and notes arising. 1 of 7
3. Matters re: APS / Council Re: Council. No Council Meeting in period. Derek will attend the next Council Meeting in Edinburgh on 22 nd November. APS HQ have been informed. New Chair (DB) to attend Council MATTERS for COUNCIL AGENDA. HQ have asked us for matters for the Council Agenda. After discussion we agreed the following be sent by Graham:- (a) exactly what does it mean to have a 'joint event' with another Association or Institution at regional level? How can, for example, an APS Region and, say, an IIRSM Region, liaise, manage, and set up and administer JOINTLY badged regional events (and any other appropriate activities). Some clarity is needed on a number of areas; for example, what does joint mean regarding:- choosing and arranging venues and speakers, who pays for what, what do the different Association/ Institutions etc and APS members pay; marketing and managing bookings; dealing with any expenses, managing excess receipts over expenditures. Graham issued these to HQ on 10/11/2017. Action closed (b) Is the Regional HANDBOOK ready, and if not all ready, can those parts of it that are ready please be issued a.s.a.p.? (c) The talk and speaker at the current National CPD afternoon event is possibly the worst National CPD APS has given. So Council needs to ask and re-assess:- quality of speakers; quality of talk: matching talk to publicity; ensuring APS standards are maintained. Quality control of 'product' prior to sending out Nationally. Post Meeting note:- Feedback on Tuesday night at Novotel from noncommittee attendees was - "it was rubbish", confirming the attending committee members views. Re: Certified Membership Transitional Examinations. We noted again that the 31 st January 2018 will be the absolute deadline for existing Incorporated Members (and those already having passed one, two, or three of the required four topic examinations) to be accredited Certified Membership, and that APS HQ have recommended that members avoid associated administrative congestion at APS HQ (and any other issues requiring APS HQ involvement), by attempting the exams before 31 st December 2017. 4. CPD and Education 4.1 interface with IIRSM NW No communication yet with Edward Blanchard of IIRSM to discuss how the APS NW and IIRSM NW Regions can liaise, manage, and set up and administer JOINTLY badged regional events (and any other appropriate activities). Graham has asked HQ for some clarity on a number of areas; for example, what does joint mean regarding:- choosing and arranging 2 of 7
venues and speakers, who pays for what, what do the different IIRSM and APS members pay, marketing and managing bookings, dealing with any expenses, managing excess receipts over expenditures. No response received that clarifies any of these questions. We agreed to add this as our feedback of Agenda Items for Council. Derek to feedback after Council. Chair (DB) 4.2 Recent APS NW events arranged by the Committee. 9/5/2017 Tuesday - held at MOKA restaurant Preston. Asbestos talk by Gary McKendrick for his company Omega Asbestos. CPD certificates and slides for OMEGA were sent out to attendees, 15/6/2017 CANCELLED (This had been agreed as Thursday 8 th June but DWF had asked that date be changed). July and August no events in these two months Thursday 12/10/2017 - Health Monitoring an essential consideration. Held at DWF offices in central Manchester. 13 booked, 12 attended with one no-show. Slides by Graham, and discussions facilitated by Graham. Really positive input from all who were there to make some good learning points. Graham to use notes from these discussions to update slides and issue to those who attended. Post meeting note: certificates now issued 7 th November to those who attended. Graham 4.3 FUTURE VENUES FOR NW CPD regional events. We confirmed previous decisions that, for now, the following venues are preferred and to be used :- MOKA in Preston LACE in Liverpool DWF offices in central Manchester Novotel near Jct 12 M60 (west Manchester) Ellesmere Port / Boat Museum (if we decide to hold a morning event) Other Venues need to be investigated. Committee members were actioned to look at suitable additional and alternative venues for CPD events in the northwest area, including/viz::- Wigan area, and possibly Haydock Burnley / Blackburn area Lancaster University or similar area Macclesfield (Library) RF - Becki DF- Dave GL- Graham GL- Graham 3 of 7
4.4 FUTURE DATES for NW regional events. Confirmed our previous decision to hold regional CPD events in the NW region during the third week of each month commencing January 2018. Although we had at last meeting agreed that with effect from January 2018, the evenings will be on either Tuesday or Wednesdays and alternate as thought best, Committee members availability has changed. Now agreed to alternate WEDNESDAYs and THURSDAYs from January 2018. Agreed dates should try to roughly stick to outline sent to HQ for web pages and are therefore:- December = none as it is challenging to get people to make time with Christmas season and events etc. Wednesday 17 th January 2018. Talk/Topic to be Construction Phase Plans. Speaker to be Graham giving same talk as before hoping to attract non-members and those Members who have not attended before. Location try Haydock Park area. DEREK to investigate Haydock Park venues including Racecourse, Holiday Inn, Ramada Encore, and Mercure and make a booking. Thursday 22 nd February 2018. Talk/Topic to be Fire Safety/ Fire Safety during the construction phase. Becki to follow up contacts and find a suitable speaker. Location. Agreed to try the Message Enterprise Centre. Graham to make the booking. Graham Derek Becki Graham Agreed no event in March 2018. Easter Friday is 30 th March, and Easter Monday is 2 nd April 2018 Topics/talks, speakers, and venues for the ongoing dates to be discussed next Committee Meeting:- Thursday 19 th April 2018. Possibly client duties and held in Burnley / Blackburn area. (Depends on results of other actions recorded in these notes.) Wednesday 16 th May 2018. Possibly good order on construction sites and site security. Maybe held in Preston at MOKA. Thursday 21 st June 2018. Possibly Principal Contractor Duties. Maybe held at LACE, Liverpool. Wednesday 18 th July 2018. Possibly Health and Safety Files. Maybe at Macclesfield Library. (Depends on results of other actions recorded in these notes.) 4 of 7
4.5 Topics for consideration for future NW CPD Events. Confirmed the possible topics maybe suitable for future Regional CPD Events if speakers can be found: Occupational Health with a bias on Mental Health. Emphasis on seeing the warning signs. We considered that at least the client (who has to ensure arrangements are suitable) could seek to ascertain that organisations they use have good health and mental health arrangements and surveillance, and that maybe a Principal Designer also has a role to ensure all design offices and construction sites have related relevant and effective systems and activities in place. NB The speaker really needs to be authoritative on this subject. DF to liaise with local HSE Office (or other suitable contacts) to seek suitable speakers on this topic. DF Designer Unaware topic - intended to be a slant on previous designer aware incentives and to highlight things that designers may overlook or be inexperienced about, in respect of lacking in skills, knowledge and experience. Committee members to consider suitable activities under this topic - and report back at next meeting. Also who could speak on this? All All We agreed that we should include:- Construction Phase Plans for SMEs - Health & Safety File and CDM interfaces with Building Manual and also O&M Manuals - Clients duties in relation to managing projects (maybe) - PC duties in the construction phase - Duties of contractors. Especially on Design and Build (= designer interfaces) - Dusts and silicas Graham wondered if a talk on Gas Holders and their construction and health and safety issues in demolition would be of interest. Agreed it might. Graham will work on slides over next few months and come back to the committee for review. 4.6 COMMUNICATIONS with NW Members. Action from previous meetings:- to consider a dummy-run exercise via Facebook, to demonstrate effective co-respondence with North West members re invitation to regional events. RF to organise/ experiment. We noted that Council has been advised that APS HQ staff were seeking better ways of communicating with members and the industry through social media, including twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and the like. Derek may be able to feedback on progress after next Council Meeting. RF Becki DB - Derek 5 of 7
5 UPCOMING EVENTS in the NW Theory of Fire Risk from IIRSM on 16 November. Bobby (APS President) is attending but not thought to be presenting. It is being billed as a joint event as agreed by IIRSM and HQ. (see notes on what is a joint event elsewhere. APS NW was not in any part of the planning for this). 6 Practice matters including Hot Topic North west Issues Nothing identified as specifically NW practice matters or issues, nor NW hot topics. Nationally, Health and Mental health remains on the HSE and public agenda. (we will try to get a speaker to cover this see item 4.5 above.) 7 FINANCE MATTERS No change since last meeting. Tony has not received any further details nor guidance from HQ. EXPENSES = Tony to distribute to committee members the current official template from APS HQ for claiming APS committee related expenses. Committees Treasurer Operation For the purpose of clarity, Tony to provide a precis of known Treasurer and Account management details so that this information can be reviewed and discussed at the next meeting. We hoped that the new Regional Handbook would be available before then. TB TB Income from the October 2017 event should be greater than expenditure. Income from the event next week (Novotel on 7 th Nov) looks like it will exceed facility costs (room and refreshments) by around 197. The last week s email from Graham has boosted numbers from 16 to 35 8 Regional Elections, and Committee positions going forward. David and Becki stood for election and have been elected to continue to serve on the Committee. Graham advised that with having retired from all work related responsibilities, and with personal circumstances as they are, his ability and time to serve as chair has to end. Graham steps down from the Chair. After discussions, and noting Dave s willingness to continue to serve as Secretary if needed, the following was agreed (notes below as they should appear on the APS NW web pages):- 6 of 7
Your Committee Chair Derek Bradshaw derek.bradshaw@kok-surveyors.com 07855656917 Deputy Chair David Ashworth david.ashworth@hlpmanagement.com Treasurer Tony Banks apsnwtreasurer@gmail.com 07812 157 870 Secretary Rebecca Fairclough Rebecca.Fairclough@watts.co.uk 07790 827 601 Liaison Officer David Forshaw dwfamericana@tiscali.co.uk 07775 631843 ex officio immediate past chair Graham Leech grahamleechaps@gmail.com no tel number 9. AOB. (1) Discussed request from HQ for matters to add to Council Agenda. Agreed the points noted at item 3 (first bullet) above. (2) HQ has had an enquiry from URENCO looking for contacts and advice in the NW region. Colin Seditas at HQ has given the URENCO client Graham s details. Graham will speak to the URENCO contact early next week and forward details to Derek, David and the rest of the Committee to decide on actions arising. Post meeting note:- Graham has done the actions and sent emails 10 th Nov 2017, with copy to Colin at HQ. Graham to make call and send emails to committee Graha m s action closed. Derek & committee to follow up. Date of next meeting To be agreed. Derek/Becki to facilitate finding a date and location 7 of 7