British Precast , the Leicester, UK-based trade federation for the UK concrete products industry, held its annual conference PRECAST2012 together with the annual members meeting, EXPO trade show and best practice awards lunch at the King Power Stadium in Leicester on May 17. The day proved highly popular with 400 delegates attending, 50 trade stands displaying and 30 companies vying for annual awards. Taking over as President for 2012 -14 was Andy Dix the Managing Director of member Charcon Construction So
British Precast , the Leicester, UK-based trade federation for the UK concrete products industry, held its annual conference PRECAST2012 together with the annual members meeting, EXPO trade show and best practice awards lunch at the King Power Stadium in Leicester on May 17. The day proved highly popular with 400 delegates attending, 50 trade stands displaying and 30 companies vying for annual awards.
Taking over as President for 2012 -14 was Andy Dix the Managing Director of member Charcon Construction Solutions Ltd. He paid tribute to the immense effort over three years of the outgoing President Steve Parker, Managing Director of Buchan Concrete Solutions. Mr Dix outlined his intention to recruit more members who could reach the standards demanded by the Raising the Bar campaign. He committed to make further progress moving the industry towards Zero Harm and was pleased to donate his company health & safety video to all British Precast members. He added that members should redouble their marketing effort through British Precast and their product associations. He presented Steve Parker with a fine concrete vase on behalf of all members.
To seal his day Andy Dix then heard the news at lunch that Charcon had been awarded the Best Practice Award for Health & Safety for their employee engagement video programme “It only takes a minute”.
PRECAST2012 featured a wide spectrum of events and initiatives including
• Technical seminars from Associate members
• 50 trade and advisory stands in the EXPO
• Top keynote speakers including Dr Koji Sakai, global sustainable concrete expert from Japan, Dr Diana Montgomery new Chief Executive of the CPA ( Construction Products Association), Dr Philippe Fonta of the WBCSD ( World Business Council for Sustainable Development) in Geneva, top safety lawyer Alan Millband and Paul Morrell, Government Chief Construction Advisor
• In the stadium car park Cemex UK demonstrated their cycle safe campaign using two LGVs with the help of Leicester City Council MPA and Leicestershire Police.
• An Olympics presentation at which Morrell and Montgomery presented gold medals to 19 member companies of British Precast who had supplied London 2012.
• The medals ceremony was followed by the Awards Lunch attended by 240 guests which celebrated innovation, health & safety, sustainability and built projects.
• Publication of Sustainability Matters the 2012 progress report of British Precast collective KPIS compared with targets set in 2008. Only in the area of recycled aggregate usage has the Federation fallen short of target.
• The launch of the British Precast Safer by Competence programme which commits the industry to employing only provably competent employees by 2018.
• Presentation of the British Precast Lifetime Contribution award to Cliff Billington of J&P Building Systems.
• Presentation of the British Precast Award for Outstanding Contribution to Health & Safety to Hugh Logan of Stanton Bonna
• The launch of a consultative document to members on CE marking.
Martin Clarke , Chief Executive of British Precast commented “We have pledged ourselves to Raising the Bar as an industry – today we raised the bar as a trade
federation. We have never received feedback as positive as this for any event and will be back again at the King Power stadium in May 2013. In fact preparations are already underway whilst today’s events are still fresh in our minds. This industry has a great future in building a better Britain – our members have the service levels, quality, innovation, sustainability and well-being footprint credentials to beat all competition from other materials and it is a privilege to work with them. I especially look forward to a very productive two years under Andy Dix’s leadership.”
Note
A separate press release is available on the Best Practice Award winners
High resolution photos available from
Further information from Martin Clarke, Chief Executive of British Precast Concrete Federation mob 07850 278494
British Precast has 69 full members and 110 associate members from the supply chain. It represents all concrete product categories and manages 12 product associations in a £2 billion sector
British Precast is a member of the Mineral Products Association
