An important year for LABC and our new President Chris Griffith-Jones

New LABC President Chris Griffith-Jones (pictured right in the above image), has replaced last year's President Richard Scott and pledged to help continue improving skills, competencies and standards for its members in England and Wales.

He said, "I want to continue building on the good work carried out by Richard. LABC's new standards, ISO and work in developing competencies will drive up quality standards and retain expertise in the construction industry."

Chris, Head of Building Control at Winchester City Council, officially began his term in this voluntary position in December 2017 and steps in at a time when improvement in recruitment, training and consistency in standards have become key issues for local authority building control teams across the UK.

With the construction industry back to pre-2007 levels of work, recruitment into the industry is of paramount importance and LABC's new online learning management system and building control qualifications, introduced with the help of the University of Wolverhampton and the CIOB, will help train and improve the performances of those within it.

Chris will spend his presidential year meeting industry leaders, policymakers and local government to raise awareness of the value of best practice and standards.

The President's Charity

Each new President nominates a charity of their choice and this year Chris has named Oracle Cancer Trust as his. Over the past 10 years Oracle have invested more than £5m into research programmes to discover new and improved treatments with fewer immediate and long-term side effects for patients suffering from head and neck cancer.

This has resulted in breakthroughs in surgical techniques, radiotherapy treatment, speech and language therapy, drug development and virus and immunotherapies. 

Visit the LABC charity of the year page for further information.