The Wilson Organisation - General - London, Wembley Farce Hot Topic at Property and Construction Forum
Date: 08 Nov 2006
An audience of around 100 guests joined professional firms The Wilson Organisation, Freeth Cartwright and PKF at the seventh annual Property and Construction Forum.
Held at Trent Bridge, subjects covered included Directors' and Officers' Insurance, lessons to be learned from recent high-profile construction projects and the frequently changing tax legislation in the construction sector.
Chairing the event, Nick Ebbs, chief executive of Blueprint, also took time to highlight the role that buildings play in contributing to climate change (current estimates suggest 40/50% of CO2 emissions is produced by buildings) and what can be done about it through better design and construction methods.
The event was designed to bring together a wide range of businesses with an interest in property and construction and one of the talks was particularly topical, as Charlotte Prow, deputy managing director of Wilsons explained:
"Just a couple of hours before the event started, an agreement between the Football Association, Wembley National Stadium Limited and Multiplex was announced on what has become a long running saga of poor project procurement and delivery".
Guy Berwick of Freeth Cartwright added "Much of the talk amongst the delegates revolved around this before we even began so it provided a perfect context for a lot of the presentation content and plenty of discussion and debate afterwards."
In their presentation, "Mega Projects = Mega Disaster?", Guy, together with Chris Holwell (both partners in Freeth Cartwright's construction team) not only demonstrated their acute understanding of the sector but also a previously less well-known gift for comic timing.
Utilising a range of different props and questionable accents, Guy and Chris provided their own take on a range of well-known construction projects including the Millennium Stadium, Holyrood and Wembley, before delivering a series of lessons to be learned from these high-profile procurement errors.
However, not all talk revolved around Wembley, as Wilsons explored the personal claims risks that company directors and officers increasingly face in their working lives. Delivered via a mock courtroom drama, examples ranged from discrimination claims and employment tribunals through to criminal prosecution, dawn raids and corporate manslaughter, not all of which may be covered by standard company insurance.
The event was rounded off by Karen Francis and Lisa Topliss who head up the PKF Tax and VAT teams in the East Midlands. In their own inimitable styles, they cut through much of the red tape surrounding issues currently facing the construction industry and provided useful advice on changes in legislation, which are about to add to the daily work load.
In particular, Karen highlighted the practical challenges and responsibilities presented to employers by the forthcoming major changes to the Construction Industry Scheme. "These changes contain many pitfalls for the unwary and are something the whole industry will have to understand before they are introduced in April", commented Karen afterwards.
At the annual Property & Construction Forum are (L-R) Chris Holwell, Freeth Cartwright; Charlotte Prow, Wilson Organisation; Karen Francis, PKF; Nick Ebbs, Blueprint; Alan Johnson, Wilson Organisation; Lisa Topliss, PKF; Guy Berwick, Freeth Cartwright.
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