When I was elected a National Councillor in April, colleagues asked me what that involved? I had to admit I did not know, but would know more after the IBC AGM in Belfast.
So when I received the invitation to fly to Belfast and stay overnight at the Hilton Hotel, I thought why not?
I soon found out that it was possible to book flights on the EasyJet Internet site (www.easyjet.com) from £36 return. This would have entailed a second night stay in Belfast, so I decided to travel at a more convenient time of day. This raised the cost to £66 return including tax.
Unfortunately Luton Airport is not that close to where I live. It took longer than I anticipated to get there via the M25 and M1 motorways and I only just got to the check-in desk as they were about to close the flight. Still the flight was quick and the airplane was obviously new. An hour later we landed at Belfast International to be met by Francis, a Belfast Building Control Surveyor.
Unknown to me also on the same EasyJet flight was Paul Tucker of Jersey Building Control and Michael Finn of Drivers Jonas. Francis gave us a guided tour of the city and surrounding countryside as he drove us to the Hotel.
This seemed to be in a historical context, similar to viewing ancient castles and sites of ancient battles in England. The Battlements to keep Police Stations secure, however unnecessary in the present peaceful climate, served as a reminder that it was not so long ago that there had been troubled times.
The Hilton Hotel is a very modern luxurious one. I resisted the temptation to raid the mini-bar, but was particularly impressed by the American way of having a free ice cube dispenser next to the lift and the free access to a personal computer for guests to check their e-mail on the Internet.
Meeting in the bar of the Hotel before dinner, Trevor Martin, President Elect, rounded us up to walk the 300 yard stroll to the City Hall. This is a magnificent building with solid marble pillars, dome, and whispering gallery. It was built at the turn of the century from the revenue made by the then City Council selling gas. The treasures on display in the City Hall included a display cabinet showing off the two charter mark awards and other trophies won by Building Control.
Dinner provided by the City in honour of Trevor's investiture was excellent and the after Dinner speeches brief and amusing. Then it was all off to a nearby bar for live music and local culture. The people were very friendly and relaxed and I felt very safe walking through the streets.
Next morning after breakfast at the riverside restaurant we walked back to the City Hall to start the AGM at 10:00am. After the formal part Jennie Price of the Major Contractors Group gave us a talk on how the industry was responding to the Egan report on rethinking the way construction process is delivered. The Mayor of Belfast made a short speech and the outgoing President, Hugh Johnston told us how his year had gone.
The investiture of Trevor Martin was then done and he spoke to us about how he was looking to improve communications between the head office and the ordinary member.
After lunch all the Councillors sat down around a long table to begin the Council Meeting. Our new Chief Executive, Julien Parrott, told us how pleased he was to have been appointed and how much he was looking forward to the work. After electing in the President, etc we were asked to vote on who should be on the management board. The ballot papers were collected and the six most popular elected.
There are three committees that report to the management board and to which Councillors can join. These are: -
Paul Tucker is the chairman of the Member Services Committee. Previously he had asked me if I would like to join that committee. Deciding to plunge in to the deep end, I said I would be delighted to join. We are to meet 4 times in the year and look to provide support services to the membership. So at the Council Meeting each chairman put forward the names of Council Members to serve on each committee and my name was among the ones selected by Paul for the Members Services Committee.
After the meeting Terry Ware Michael Finn and I were driven to the Belfast International Airport to catch our flights back to London.
All in all, my first trip to Northern Ireland was a very enjoyable experience. A lot of my pre-conceptions had come from newspaper and television reports. I experienced a very different place from the impressions given by the media. The shops are prosperous, the people are friendly, relaxed, and appear happy. Obviously they have been through a hard time in the past, but everyone I met was looking to put that behind them. I look forward to returning to Northern Ireland in the future and hopefully to the IBC conference in June.
Robert Hunter-Jones MSc CEng MICE MIStructE FIBC
National Councillor of the IBC
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