The Chair Writes…
Hello everyone and welcome to the second “The Chair Writes” from the Structural Alliance.
The first thing I would like to say is that I sincerely hope that you and your families have remained safe and well during the COVID-19 crisis.
Naturally, all of our businesses have been affected in some way by the pandemic. Some member’s operations have reduced or closed, whilst others continued working under constantly changing social distancing guidelines.
Many of our members, working on infrastructure projects, were classified as critical workers, which clearly underlines the importance of the works undertaken by Alliance members and the key role they carry out in maintaining structures across the UK.
It is a credit to all members who have been able to show such resilience and flexibility over the past few months. Let us hope that every member is able to ride the current storm.
We have all had to make considerable changes to operations and have now adapted to new ways of communicating and doing business. We are all now accustomed to the Zoom and Teams meetings that keep us all connected, this may be the way we as an Alliance continue for the foreseeable future.
Despite the pressures on each individual company, the Alliance has managed to stay connected and adapt to new ways of meeting, supporting members and planning for the future. I would like to thank all of the Alliance members and Alliance committee for their continued hard work and support during the pandemic.
Some of the recent Alliance activities include;
Providing guidance to members with the latest Build UK COVID updates including the “New Norm” document.
Holding the Alliance Webinar on the 2nd July, where it was decided to review the range of current technical documents, their need for revision and a centralised storage location for ease of maintenance. Once completed this should provide a great benefit to members and non-members seeking expert advice from the Alliance and its member associations.
Planned “Meet the Specialists webinars” for September, which will be dedicated to each association.
Despite the obvious challenges through COVID-19, there has been progress made in training, with the CPA corrosion basics online course receiving CPD accreditation as well as the CITB assessors being identified.
Finally, a thank you to all members for your contributions. Please continue to support us by participating in the webinars and e-bulletins.
Ron Pinfield – CRA Chair
