SPEECH BY SIR MICHAEL LATHAM FOR NCC PRIZEGIVING
22 JULY 2004

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all here on this very special day. Today we honour the new graduates and award-winners of the College; we congratulate them on their achievements to date; and of course we wish them every success in their future in the industry.

All the students whose hard work we will shortly be celebrating are winners today. They have completed demanding courses and they deserve their day of congratulation, a day when they can be proud of what they have achieved. A day when we can all say, Well done indeed!

But there are also some particular people to whom I would like to add my personal welcome and expression of gratitude. First, to all of you who are families and friends of the students here today – thank you for the support you have given to them. It has been vital for their achievement.

A big thank you also to the staff of the College, who achieve so much under the leadership of David Boyden. Not just the teaching staff, important though they are, but also to the unsung heroes on the admin and pastoral side of the College. I’m sure our guest speaker today, Chris Ryan, would agree that the front-line troops must have first-class back-up to achieve their best.

And, last but not least, a warm welcome to our distinguished guests. [Mention some of those from the industry side – don’t know who’s coming.] I’m delighted to see our local Member of Parliament, Henry Bellingham MP, with whom we keep in close touch and many of my colleagues on the CITB-ConstructionSkills Board, whose involvement and commitment is greatly valued by us all.

Our guest of honour, Chris Ryan, will receive a fuller introduction shortly. We all look forward to hearing inspiring remarks from him. Chris may not be aware of the military connections of Bircham Newton, but this site was an RAF station before, during and after the Second World War. By one of those quirks of fate I actually lived here as a young lad for a couple of years between 1951 and 1953 when my late father was stationed here.

And I want to express special thanks to the employers. Their contribution is crucial, not only to the work of the College, but also to training in the industry more widely.

The employers represented here today, and all those who support the work of the College, including those who sponsor apprentices, are leading the way for the industry. They are demonstrating their commitment to the cause of top quality training. More and more of the industry are following their lead.

I hope that those companies which are not currently involved in training will accept that it is not an optional extra. That’s true whether you’re looking from the point of view of the employee or the employer.

From the employee angle, we are moving to become a fully-qualified workforce. That means a lot for those currently employed in the industry, as well as those of you who are just embarking on your careers.

For the employers it is a question of domestic, and indeed international, competitiveness. Clients demand high quality for their construction projects, and for their work to be completed on time and on budget. Those companies who have a trained and highly-skilled workforce, and who use the latest business methods, will be the successful companies of the future.

The construction industry is in the spotlight as never before. The scale of activity is at a high level, and looks set to be sustained there for some time to come. This is supported by a massive programme of public sector refurbishment and new build. The Building Schools for the Future programme is a flagship, but there are also hospital projects, new roads to be built, social housing to be refurbished, landmark structures and largescale infrastructure projects.

This makes it an especially exciting time to enter the industry. Not just because there will be plenty of work to do, but because many of the opportunities open to you involve very worthwhile schemes which will benefit local communities. To be working in an industry which is contributing so much to society, and doing so much to improve the environment of many communities, will be a rewarding experience.

Tangible achievements, benchmarks of success, are something which we all strive for, whatever our professions or industries. In construction, you can point to the fruits of your work more easily than most. You can say “I helped to build that”, and that is something of which you can be proud.

We also need you to blaze a trail for others to follow. One of my tasks as Chairman of CITB-ConstructionSkills is to make sure that we enthuse still more young people to join a creative industry. We need to bring them in – and CITB has been very successful in that regard, especially in recent years – and place them with good employers, and help them to become fully skilled in a modern industry and then continue to train them throughout their careers.

In providing top class skills for our industry, the National Construction College is already leading the way. It is dedicated to providing excellent training. Its expertise and your hard work has produced the success we are celebrating today.

Well done again, and all the very best to you in your future careers in the industry.

I will now ask David Boyden, General Manager of the College, to report on the College’s activities and achievements over the past year.