The Voice of  Construction Leadership Professionals

2024 marked a special year in the 182 Years historic timeline of the ICM ─ initially being re-admitted into the CIC membership ─ then early in the run-up to the general election ICM's current Vice President David Jones was proud to have been appointed to Chair the dormant CIC London & South-East Region at such a pivotal time of change culture in the industry ...

... immediately prior to the CIC AGM David Jones met all the CIC Regional Chairs when the regions came together close to share insights ...

... with little or no previous agenda to follow nor committee members to lead in that oddly 'forgotten' autonomous region, ICM's David Jones set out his vision for the Construction Industry ─ one where industry leaders will have a convenient place to meet and work together in common purpose with the new Government in their own workplace! ─ The Palace of Westminster ... 

... however, that idea; to go and take the leading representatives and influencers of the industry directly and uniquely into the workplace of Parliament and meet with the Ministers, Civil Servants, and their staff at Portcullis House in an agile way to create a direct two-way conduit of supportive dialogue at first seemed to resonate -but- the booked arrangements for the inaugural event in the iconic historic oak-lined Meeting Room 15 deep inside the Palace of Westminster on 21 October has now been very slightly delayed to a later date until after the approaching budget when resources will become clearer to add value to mapping the future ...

The ICM will always keep absolutely true to its original objectivity and purpose as a true not-for-profit member-led professional body run by volunteers with a registered charity fund administered by trustees for the wider industry welcoming all disciplines to act in common good ... 

... the ICM will now make its further plans as a natural progression of the successful Vision Construct '23 conference event held and inaugurated at Wembley Stadium in partnership with Resibuild Events, and then its continuance through into 2024 ─ in preparation, an excellent informative roundtable event of experts convened at The Building Centre in London on 3 October and a report will shortly be launched to parliament ...

... an essential part of that work ahead will be to address the severe challenge of restoring Trust ...

... a vital component of Trust is for observers and the served communities including the innocent users of the buildings the professional actors deliver is to know Due Diligence is being carried out appropriately. This process ensures (as best ways possible) only the right and proper persons and organisations are brought into the membership body of any industry council or authority that owes a duty to the community and carries a badge of respectability conveying a message of accreditation ... 

What is 'Due Diligence' and why is it so important ..

Further informative updates will be provided as this develops and moves forward ... make sure you register onto the ICM newsletter for a free subscription ...

The ICM has started to explore and lead thoughts around the topic of what 'Due Diligence' actually requires in the wake of the published findings of the Grenfell Inquiry Panel, and has started the creation of a tool for industry to use and consider how best to embody such functionality to build the trust. This is an early pilot the team at ICM has put out for consultation linked to the ethos of creating the Certified Construction Leadership Professional™

Later in the consultation process and feedback from the industry the ICM will hopefully be supported to create an industry wide searchable publicly available register where actors and organisation can demonstrate to the served community true and robust Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership operating in a new landscape of Mission, Truth, Lawfulness, Integrity, Stewardship, Excellence and Diversity

Special Offer:

The ICM is making available a special online PDF edition of the Plain Guide to The Building Safety Act 2022 : author - Chris Waterman : ISBN 978-0-9566709-3-9 : three volumes total 555 pages ; heavily discounted from the hard bound price of £230 for the set

Order from the ICM website

... the sector now looks to the future beyond 2024++

... well, actually it all began in the mind of David Jones way back in 1994 at the very start of CDM in the UK - wasn't called CDM at the start, when casting around someone on CONIAC suggested a name for the enactment of EU Directive 92/57/EEC could be the CONDAM Regs - hmm, maybe Grenfell would have been avoided had the industry better used that expression of protection ??? ...

... in 2012 the European Commissioners first heard about the visions of competence in the construction sector and its registration through the excellent Enterprise Europe Network [EEN] operating from Greenwich University.  EEN supported David to present his unique concept of a pan-european unified training portal linked to the EQF [European Qualification Framework] to colleagues at the Chambre de Commerce in Lisle.  Later, David Jones was invited to deliver his concept to the European Commission meeting at Stuttgart which was highly praised and acclaimed but the maturity of the digital age was a barrier at the time ...

... in 2018 the Intellectual Property Office [IPO] granted wide Trademark protection to David Jones who further visioned the industry would need to be controlled in much the same way as Bernie Ecclestone did with hazardous motor racing - even though the hazard of a person driving at high speed still exists and has increased exponentially, so is the level of safety now fully controlled to regulate the professional constructors, designers, and managers of motor sport under the F1 formula to keep the innocent spectators safe and secure ...

... when David Jones first launched the news publicly and widely from the Skills Hub Stage at London Build 2018 the audience heard how the similar ethos of safety as F1 would be needed across the construction sector ─ an exclusive licence was issued to ICM who currently are the only body legitimately holding a licence under that Trademark ... 

... there is more on the updated 2018 blog article addressing the unchecked explosion during 2023 and 2024 of a largely unregulated plethora of both commercial businesses and professional bodies setting up competence registration schemes across the industry following the enactment of the Building Safety Act ─ the original blog article has been updated with important information about possible infringement and probable long-term consequences to PII cover creating a huge problem for the validity of the insurance contract cover should some claim be made to which a counter-claim is lodged with a court to declare cover void because of an imperfect original accreditation ... (there is more on the link) ─ affected bodies and appropriate qualifying organisations with appropriate credentials and acceptable qualities may apply for a licence to legitimise their registers through written application to ICM to initially open communication and discuss to reach appropriate agreement on terms ...

... it is hoped that consultation with the PII world will move forward so the construction sector and all its actors can be clear as to what is actually covered under the plethora of liability cover contracts and what unknown issues may be lurking within those relationships that may have the potential to affect full cover or eventual payout in the event of some future claim ... due diligence is the clue! ─ competence is key!

In September 2024 - some seven years after the tragic fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower with the loss of 72 persons who died in the fire - the Inquiry Panel led by Judge Moore-Bick concluded that the fire at Grenfell Tower was the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high-rise residential buildings and to act on the information available to them ...

... although Dame Judith Hackitt urged the industry not to wait for guidance in her Independent Review Report saying that competent professionals "know what to do, don't wait for guidance, just do it!" - but, sadly, they waited! ─ but 2024 also marks the start of the new landscape of Competence and Accountability when the bulk of the new secondary legislation and regulatory instruments are in place across the piste ...

... it is a legal fact that it is now made a criminal offence for any construction or property professional to drive any project whilst under the influence of incompetence ...

Click here to access two short explainer videos about the cutting edge work of the ICM building upon those early seeds and the influence of the ethos of F1 ─ as the speed in the fast lane increases the hazard of drivers racing and risking their lives and the safety of the innocent spectators increases exponentially ─but─ all the professional racing car constructors and their drivers and teams are bound by that F1 'Formula For Safety' to keep all and the spectators safe from harm ─ so too for construction ─ enjoy the videos and let's get driving safety better ...