Members enjoy the BE-ST tour in Blantyre before a healthy discussion around the FMB Scotland Board table

Just outside of Glasgow you will find the Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) campus. Here there is specialist equipment, including the vacuum panel press which is the only one of its kind in the UK and technology that can be used for prototyping and training purposes. The meeting space at BE-ST being ideal for the latest meeting of your FMB Scotland Board.

Now I know some members have benefitted from some funded Passivhaus tradespersons training at BE-ST. I also know some of the team at BE-ST: their CEO Stephen Good and I being co-chairs of an industry working group. So the team at BE-ST were very happy to welcome your Scotland Board to their facility.

Walking tour of the BE-ST campus

Before we got stuck into business in BE-ST’s boardroom, we enjoyed a tour of the innovation factory. Stephen Good explaining BE-ST’s remit and fielding questions from members. The Zero Carbon Innovation Lab (in the factory) is described as ‘Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for the built environment.’ Stephen explained that by tapping into the leading expertise of universities, colleges, research & other built environment experts, BE-ST provides the connections and culture to make big ideas a reality.

New FMB Scotland Board member Joshua Park from Q Build said, “As this was my first Scotland Board meeting, it was great to meet fellow members during the tour of the facilities at BE-ST before we sat down to discuss business.”

The board meeting was also a first experience in chairing the meeting for Pam Wilson, who became the Scotland President in June. Here are some the issues that were discussed.

• Trading conditions in Scotland. Members present reported busy workloads with a healthy pipeline of works.
• The new FMB App and the FMB Shop.
• Our promotional campaign to recruit new members in Scotland and the new FMB Scotland webpage.
• Labour and skills shortages, with both the CITB and Scotland’s colleges coming in for some criticism here.
• I also provided an update on my work over the summer. Highlights being the Green Home Festival and visiting a members build project in Lewis.
• Members reported some frustrations with architects on pricing matters. There was also a robust discussion on the role of the contracts administrator and how contractors find themselves exposed to risk.

If you would like to find out more about what was discussed, please get in touch.

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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