FIS Regional Meeting – 22 March, London
FIS Regional Meeting
A collaborative response to labour shortages in the finishes and interiors sectorEvent Details
Date: 22 March 2022
Location: Doubletree by Hilton, 92 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4BH
Time: 07:30 – 09:45
With labour shortages and recruitment a key challenge within the sector, this event will focus on a collective response to labour shortages and attracting the next generation of workers.
We will look at the scale of the problem and a round-up of local opportunities providing ideas to support recruitment that cover all key pathways into construction (trade and construction management). There will be advice on how to approach schools, colleges and local networks and where to advertise roles (trade and construction management/surveying).
For discussion
- Recruitment: What’s available, what support is there for employers
- Retaining trainees: Managing young people, training to retain, the purpose of induction and options for delivering training
- Meeting Section 106 responsibilities: Additionality of training. Programmes that you can tap into including BounceBack and flexi-job apprentices
- Competence: Qualifications, changing regulatory landscape, ongoing training professional passports, training facilities in your region
- Funding: Funding available to support you
Time will be allowed for open discussion and networking.
The FIS team will be supported by representatives of CITB and local speakers aiming to give members fresh ideas, a clear plan of action and understanding of the support available to attack their skills gap. This will include ideas and resources to support approaches to local schools, how to work more effectively with the Department for Work and Pensions, case studies and a list of initiatives and funding that can support your recruitment efforts and induction and development of workers. Details of the support available from CITB for recruiting and qualifying people will also be given.
Similar intervention events are being run across the UK in March, April and May in Leicester, Bristol, Dartford, Manchester and Glasgow – click here to find your local event
Ceiling and Absorbers working group – 23 September
Ceiling and Absorbers working group
Event Details
Date: 23 September 2021
Location: Knauf Showroom, 20 Baltic Street, London EC1Y 0UL
Time: 14:00 – 16:30
Visit the Ceiling and Absorbers working group page
Click here
FIS Approved Training Provider Forum – 24 March
FIS Approved Training Provider Forum
Event Details
Date: 24 March 2022
Location: Online
Time: 11:30 – 13:00
The FIS Approved Training Provider Forum is to provide a dynamic forum designed to:
- Exchange best practice.
- Identify appropriate and consistent support for the sectors employers in the delivery of all types of training and qualifications that will ensure successful outcomes.
- Discuss activities to preserve the quality of delivery.
- Support the activities of the Training Group (FISTG).
- Make recommendations to the FIS Skills Board for the furtherment of training and qualifications within the sector.
- Determine guidance on employer support to ensure successful delivery.
- Identify and support innovation and promote best practice in training and qualification delivery.
- Comment on and contribute to the content of qualifications and standards for the sector.
- Highlight areas of concern relating to training and qualifications.
This online event is open to all.
Conflict Avoidance: Taking the pledge – 25 March
Conflict avoidance: Taking the pledge
Webinar details
The construction industry spends around 1.6% of its total expenditure in the UK on legal services, which compares unfavourably to the UK economy’s median spend of 0.8%. This is because we have created an adversarial environment built on win lose contract negotiation. The Construction Leadership Council is supporting a new Conflict Avoidance Process (CAP), designed by RICS, to help parties avoid any disputes by early intervention and rapid impartial and objective assessments of the issues, recommendations for a basis for settlement and providing expert advice.
Dispute Resolution Consultants Len Bunton and Janey Milligan join FIS Chief Executive Iain McIlwee to explain the principles behind the Conflict Avoidance Process and help you to understand how simple conflict avoidance and early intervention procedures can be rapidly adopted in your business to ensure disagreements between you and your clients or contractors are aired quickly, earnestly and dealt with so that costs are kept to a minimum and your project delivery doesn’t suffer.
They will also look at the benefits of signing the Conflict Avoidance Pledge and how this can support better communication and greater collaboration through the supply chain. Len will include a brief overview of other dispute resolution options and also introduce the new small claims adjudication process available through the RICS where disputes become inevitable.
Watch on demand
Members can access the recording below
This content can only be seen by logged in users. If you are an FIS member login here
Webinar: Apprenticeships and Funding in England – 23 November
Apprenticeships and Funding in England
Event Details
Date: 23 November 2021
Location: Online
Time: 12:00 – 13:00
FIS knows how difficult some employer members are finding the current process for recruiting, employing and/or hiring apprentices and securing the funding to which your organisations are eligible. This webinar will explain the support available and highlight some of the quirks of the funding system as well as providing an explanation that should ensure total success. Although designed for micro, small and medium sized organisations this webinar will be useful for everyone and anyone involved in or considering taking on an apprentice. Ajay Purbhoosing is a Senior Account Manager with London Progression Collaboration and has many years experience in education and training. The organisation has secured over £8.2m of levy transfer pledges to support small business in order to rebuild and reskill their workforces.
Webinar: Offices and contact centres – 2 June
H&S: Working safely during coronavirus: offices and contact centres
Webinar Details
Date: 2 June 2020
Location: Online
Time: 11:00 – 12:00
Join this online webinar, hosted by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strateggy, to find out more about safety at work in offices and similar indoor environments during the coronavirus pandemic
Webinar: Protecting your position in a new normal – 29 May
WEBINAR: Protecting your position in a new normal
Webinar Details
Date: 29 May 2020
Location: Online
Time: 12:30 – 13:30
Legal experts Emma Milham and David Rintoul of Hill Dickinson LLP
1. Summary of possible issues being experienced e.g. staff shortages, lack of availability of materials, delays to orders, increased costs associated with compliance with social distancing measures
2. Measures to consider in respect of existing contracts (including variations, fluctuations and productivity)
3. Measures to consider in respect of future contracts
Plenty of time will be allowed for questions at the end of their presentations.
FIS Regional Meeting – 30 March, Leicester
FIS Regional Meeting
A collaborative response to labour shortages in the finishes and interiors sectorEvent Details
Date: 30 March 2022
Location: Novotel, 2 Great Central Street, Leicester LE1 4JS
Timings:
07:30 doors open (light breakfast available)
08:00 – 10:00 meeting followed by networking opportunity
With labour shortages and recruitment a key challenge within the sector, this event will focus on a collective response to labour shortages and attracting the next generation of workers.
We will look at the scale of the problem and a round-up of local opportunities providing ideas to support recruitment that cover all key pathways into construction (trade and construction management). There will be advice on how to approach schools, colleges and local networks and where to advertise roles (trade and construction management/surveying).
For discussion
Recruitment: What’s available, what support is there for employers
Retaining trainees: Managing young people, training to retain, the purpose of induction and options for delivering training
Meeting Section 106 responsibilities: Additionality of training. Programmes that you can tap into including BounceBack and flexi-job apprentices
Competence: Qualifications, changing regulatory landscape, ongoing training professional passports, training facilities in your region
Funding: Funding available to support you
Time will be allowed for open discussion and networking.
The FIS team will be supported by representatives of CITB and local speakers aiming to give members fresh ideas, a clear plan of action and understanding of the support available to attack their skills gap. This will include ideas and resources to support approaches to local schools, how to work more effectively with the Department for Work and Pensions, case studies and a list of initiatives and funding that can support your recruitment efforts and induction and development of workers. Details of the support available from CITB for recruiting and qualifying people will also be given.
Stewart Smith
Head of Skills and Employment at Leicestershire LEP
We will be joined by Stewart Smith, Head of Skills and Employment at the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).
LLEP is a body established to drive forward regeneration and growth of the local economy. In its recently published Economic Growth Strategy, the LLEP outlined how the local economy may look in 2030 and the steps needed to get there. Stewart has a strong background in data and business intelligence and is able to tell what you what the data means in everyday terms and the potential impact on your business. This can inform you about the local recruitment options, workforce planning and how to meet your 106 requirements.
Stewart will provide information on the local economy, demographics, planned construction work and the support available to businesses within the local area.
Similar intervention events are being run across the UK in March, April and May in London, Bristol, Dartford, Manchester and Glasgow – click here to find your local event
FIS Members Meeting – Manchester 28 November
FIS Members Meeting
Event Details
Date: 28 November 2023
Location: Material Source Studio, 1 Federation Street, Manchester, M4 4BF
Time:
registration from 14:30
Meeting: 15:00 – 17:30
Followed by networking and drinks at nearby O’Neill’s.
Agenda
14:30 Registration and refreshments
15:00 Welcome, FIS Regional Chair, Angela Mansell
15:05 Building Safety Act: John Miles of Assent Building Control
15:30 Saving Construction, Payments and Resilience: Tim Whitehill, Saible, Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer and Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool Business School
16:00 Break
16:10 FIS contract review service: Iain McIlwee and Damian James
16:30 Careers in construction: Daniel McDonagh, Class of your own
17:00 Panel debate
17:30 Close and networking
Tim Whitehill, Saible, Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer and Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool Business School
Tim is founding investor of Saible, a revolutionary fintech product that changes the way to pay and get paid for construction and development projects. Tim joined Saible in September 2023 in the role of Chief Strategy Officer and has a 27-yearlong portfolio career devoted to the construction sector which includes consulting, investment, academia, and industry volunteering. Just ahead of the Carillion collapse, Tim co-authored the 2018 research report ‘The Organisational Resilience of the Construction Industry’ which exposed the deepening problem of insolvency in the sector. He is Director of The Save Construction Initiative and is Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool Business School where he continues his pursuit of improving the resilience of UK construction sector firms.
John Miles, Business Development Manager at Assent Building Control
John has over 20 years of construction industry experience. He graduated Sheffield Hallam University in 2002 with a degree in Building Surveying. Since graduation he has worked in building control for both the public and private sector.
He is passionate about the sector and believes that the future of building control will depend on intelligent sector-wide solutions that safeguard the investments of both individuals and companies, defend our vulnerable communities and drive out the sub-standard construction practices which have plagued the industry.
Recently, John has been appointed as a member of the RICS Building Control Sector Advisory Forum and is a regular contributor to the RICS Built Environment Journal.
Daniel McDonagh BSc PGCE MEd, Teaching Development Manager at Class Of Your Own
Daniel is a qualified teacher based in Manchester, who was awarded the Institution of Civil Engineers “ICE 200 medal” for his outstanding contribution to Civil Engineering. In 2018, he was appointed as a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) and holds a Master’s in Education from University of Manchester.
Daniel has 15 years of teaching experience in the UK and has developed, taught, and led ‘Design Engineer Construct’ at Levels 1, 2 and 3 in an 11-18 school. His eight-year experience teaching DEC enabled him to move to COYO in 2019 as the Teaching Development Manager. Daniel’s current role is to support and develop COYO’s family of new and existing ‘DEC’ teachers and their learners. He is passionate about empowering and developing young people, to take responsibility for their own futures through employment-focused learning.
Damian James, Owner, Damian James Quantum and Delay Experts
Damian is widely experienced in engineering and construction claims and dispute resolution with wide experiences of contractors, employers and subcontractors, Damian crosses the divide between legal protocol and construction experience.
As a dispute resolver, Damian is commended on his ability to understand disputes early in the process and is regularly lauded on his clear and erudite discussions and written directions to the parties. He has also undertaken expert determinations having been appointed in arbitrations and in adjudications. Damian has, on several occasions, given expert opinion evidence in the area of delay and disruption assessment and quantum / cost evaluation.
Drylining working group – 28 September
Drylining working group
Event Details
Date: 28 September 2021
Location: Knauf Showroom, 20 Baltic Street, London EC1Y 0UL
Time: 14:00 – 16:30
Visit the drylining working group page
Click here
Heritage and Fibrous Plastering working group – 19 October
Heritage and Fibrous Plastering industry working group
Event Details
Date: 19 October 2021
Location: The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers’ Offices, 1 London Wall, Barbican, London EC2Y 5JU
Time: 14:00 – 16:30
Visit the heritage and fibrous plastering industry working group page
Click here..
FIS President’s Lunch – 4 February 2020
FIS President’s Lunch 2020
A look at our video from the 2019 Presidents Lunch
Tickets are now on sale for our 2020 President’s Lunch. The event will be held at Plaisterers’ Hall in London, on Tuesday 4 February.
The event will see the winners of the Fit-Out Futures Awards announced and presented. The Fit-Out Futures Awards seek to recognise the outstanding contributions and achievements of individuals who have demonstrated excellence, dedication and commitment to their personal development, organisation and the finishes and interiors community. The people who make us great.
Event Details
Date: 04 February 2020
Location: Plaisterers’ Hall, One London Wall, London EC2Y 5JU
Time: 12:00 – 15:30
Ticket price: £175 + VAT
Cancellation: Refunds will only be given if FIS is advised six weeks prior to event
Our guest speaker for the event will be Michael ‘Eddie’ Edwards.
Guest will hear an entertaining and inspiring talk from ‘Eddie the Eagle’ who was destined to carry on the family business and become a plasterer, but aged 13 following a school skiing trip all that changed. He got the skiing bug and as soon as he was old enough, travelled to Europe to teach skiing in many of the winter resorts. He holds the current British Olympic record for ski jumping 71 metres andhis personal best is 119.5m!
Watch our interview with 2019 Apprentice Of The Year winner – John Taylor
Sponsorship opportunities
There are a number of sponsorship opportunities available at this event, from headline event sponsorship through to award category sponsorship. This provides the sponsors with the platform to promote their organisation to some 300 members and guests at the event, as well as extensive coverage across the FIS social channels, website and through our SpecFinish magazine.
FIS North West Contractor Forum – 22 January 2020
FIS North West Contractor Forum – Manchester
Event Details
Date: 22 January 2020
Location: Transport for Greater Manchester, 2 Piccadilly Place, Manchester M1 3BG
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Join the FIS North West Contractor Forum 4pm – 6pm on 22 January Arrival from 3:30pm.
At the event Iain McIlwee, FIS CEO will update delegates on the new Interior Systems Apprentice Standard and FIS tools to support members in managing risk and quality.
We will also be joined by Wayne Timperley, Building Control Manager, Manchester City Council who will be giving us insight from local authority building control, looking how the environment and priorities are changing post Grenfell, key changes to the Regulation and the Regulatory Structure, how the Building Control Process is Changing and the key things/common faults that his team see when out on site.
We will also be joined by Joanna Lane, Senior Stakeholder Engagement Officer for Transport for Greater Manchester who will update on the new Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan.
Time at the end will be allowed for an open discussion and hopefully a few even less formal drinks afterwards.
FIS Scottish Contractors Forum – 29 January 2020
FIS Scottish Contractors Forum
Event Details
Date: 29 January 2020
Location: Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, Unit 3B, 3 Watt Place, Hamilton International Technology Park G72 0AG
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Join the FIS Scottish Contractor Forum 4pm – 6:00pm on 29 January. Arrival from 3:30pm.
At the event we will be joined by representatives from Addleshaw Goddard solicitors who will be supporting a workshop entitled, Horizon Scanning for the Construction Sector, looking ahead with 2020 vision.
The workshop will provide an overview of key trends and challenges in the sector in Scotland, analysing the impact of Late Payment Regulation, the changing Building Regulatory landscape and identifying key changes in employment law and taxation as they will be impacting Scottish Contractors.
Iain McIlwee, FIS CEO will then update delegates on new FIS tools to support members in managing risk and quality.
Time at the end will be allowed for an open discussion and hopefully a few even less formal drinks afterwards.
Women in Fit-Out
Steel Framing Systems
Partitions and Pods
