The Structural Concrete Alliance Industry Day 2022
The Structural Concrete Alliance Industry Day 2022
On the 27th October 2022, members of the Structural Concrete Alliance attended The Alliance Industry Day in Salford, Manchester.
The event opened with a warm welcome from The Alliance Publicity chair, Paul Russel who opened the floor to a two hour meeting with presentations for Lauren Fairley, speaking on behalf of the SCA, David Simpson speaking for the CPA and CRA chair Jonathon Thurlbeck, speaking for the CRA, with a piece on publicity from the CRA publicity officer, Sophie Everett.
The meeting was engaging and insightful, with each association commenting on membership, training, marketing, and technical updates. Key points discussed during the meeting were:
Sprayed Concrete Association (SCA): The Assessor Campaign. The SCA are calling for members to become an NVQ assessor and urge anyone interested in becoming an assessor to contact the SCA. Also. the operative competency scheme has gone from strength to strength with over 100 operatives on the card scheme.
Corrosion Prevention Association (CPA): Training (ICORR Courses). David Simpson commented on how well the ICORR training courses are doing which are organised through the CPA. In 2022, 127 delegates have gone through Buried, Concrete or Marine courses (Buried being the most popular) and will continue to focus on this throughout 2023. Some members in the room commented that they had gone through the course and it is highly beneficial, even if you do not require the qualification, operatives can gain great knowledge from attending courses.
Concrete Repair Association (CRA): Chair, Jonathan Thurlbeck advised that the CRA now have two NSAC assessors. The CRA have also judged the CRA Concrete Society awards and shared that Gunite, Concrete Repairs Limited (CRL) and Mackenzie Construction have all been shortlisted.
After lunch at the AC Marriot Hotel in Salford, members made their way to the 7 Brothers Brewery and the 4 Sisters Gin Distillery. Learning about the family history of the brewery and distillery was incredibly insightful, the tasters of fruity Gins and craft beers went down a treat too! Paul Russell commented that the afternoon was a great success, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The evening commenced with a drinks reception in the hotel library with plenty of opportunity to catch up and network which was followed by a delicious three course meal. Guest Speaker, Mark Dolan then took to the floor and had everyone in fits of laughter as he engaged with members and spoke about hot topics! If that wasn’t enough, he opened the room to a round of karaoke, which included stand out ‘performances’ of Spandeu ballet’s ‘Gold’, ‘Islands in the stream’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’.
Thank you so much to all who attended the event, it was a fantastic day. For anyone who could not attend this year, we hope to see you at the next one.
