Last year ended with welcome results from cross-industry collaboration in which the ECA was involved. The Major Projects Agreement (MPA) received a welcome boost towards the end of 2003 with the news that this industrial relations model will be implemented at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. This followed a successful initial meeting of the M&E Forum in July. Supporting the UK’s largest ever construction project, the MPA T5 agreement will be a showcase for true co-operation among all parties within the industry. This lays an excellent foundation for building on those achievements.

Also, the Sector Skills Development Agency has agreed to issue a five-year licence to SummitSkills as the Sector Skills Council for the building services sector which embraces the industry.

Meanwhile, the SEC Group continues to call for the phasing out of retentions on public sector contracts, and at a meeting on 7 January with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng MP, the group called for the establishment of a Government SEC Group industry taskforce to address and progress these issues.

The Chief Secretary agreed to consult with relevant Ministerial colleagues and offered to meet again with the SEC Group in six months time.

Finally we would like to wish all EMC readers a very rewarding and successful 2004.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor