HVCA president highlights people as the key to the future

The development of the workforce in the building-services contracting sector has been highlighted by HVCA president Mike Taylor as the single theme binding together the key issues affecting the future of the association and its members. Speaking at the centenary dinner at the Natural History Museum in London last month, he said, ‘Whilst the catalogue of issues may have altered remarkably little of the past century, the association’s response to them has been uniformly coherent, proactive and robust. ‘We have long prided ourselves on leading the debate, on identifying problems, developing solutions and persuading others of the rightness of our case. That, I believe, is as true in 2004 and it was back in 1904. ‘We have a vision for the future of the association, the building-engineering services sector and the construction industry that is clear and unequivocal. This vision embraces a massive range of issues. It covers training and recruitment, health and safety, security of payment, supply-chain management, offsite fabrication, technological innovation...’ He explained that his increasing involvement with human resources has led him to believe that people lie at the heart of everything that contractors do. He expressed his belief that the industry’s ability to innovate and achieve excellence can only ever be as great as the quality of the individuals working in it. ‘Competent, well trained, well motivated people are our principal asset, our soundest investment — our passport to prosperity. It is our absolute, therefore to recruit, retain, develop and motivate individuals of talent and ability — and ot make them feel valuable, and valued, members of the team.’