It was a month ago that we welcomed delegates to our annual face-to-face Members’ Forum. We held it in Belfast this year, for the first time, and had a packed programme of events and discussion sessions, all arranged with much appreciated support from our Northern Ireland Hub committee. Delegates of Members’ Forum are representatives from our global Hubs; Tomorrow’s Leaders; the CIOB Board of Trustees and Presidents; and the CIOB Leadership Team. 

We started with the welcome reception - an opportunity for the delegates from each of our global Hubs to network and catch-up or get to know each other before the formal meetings start.

Our first full day focussed on hearing from our global Hubs, with Michaela Cook FCIOB, Chair of our Christchurch Hub (and the delegate who had travelled the furthest!), opening with a traditional Māori greeting. She set an inclusive and positive tone, talking up the benefits of collaborations and relationship building.

We heard from 12 Hubs in total that day and had excellent engagement from delegates, with lots of questions for each Hub. Collaboration emerged to be a key theme from all and, in practicing what they preach, there were commitments from many of the Hubs from across the globe to work together.

Day one ended with a Business Leaders Reception at Belfast City Hall, where we were joined by MLAs Pam Cameron and Aisling Reilly and Chief Executive of the Construction Employers Federation, Mark Spence. We heard from all three of them, talking about support for the industry in Northern Ireland and their hopes for the future of the sector. We also heard from Yvonne Conway FCIOB, Chair of our NI Hub, and Paul Gandy FCIOB, on the potential our sector has to bring benefits to communities everywhere, again touching on collaboration as being key in the success of construction projects.

Day two started with our AGM which included our President for 2024/25, Professor Mike Kagioglou FCIOB, handing to our President for 2025/26, Paul Gandy. This was followed by a presentation from Lynn Carvill, Chief Executive at Women’s Tec, and Shauna Young MCIOB of McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd. Lynn had just been awarded an MBE so we took the opportunity to congratulate her for this fantastic acknowledgement of her work.

Women’s Tec, which is supported by our NI Hub, is helping to close the ongoing skills gap by training women in various trades and offering mentoring and buddy schemes. Support for measures to close the skills gap is one of CIOB’s three headline areas of work so it was great to hear about the success of Women’s Tec.

After their presentation, we continued with insights from two more of our global Hubs and from a group of our Tomorrows' Leaders on the successes and challenges they are seeing in the industry.

The afternoon took us out for site visits in Belfast, starting at Grand Central Station. We heard about this significant project - and the important part collaborative working is playing - from Duane McCreadie MCIOB.

We also had the bonus of a virtual site visit, hearing about the Strule and an ambitious schools project, both important developments for Omagh.

Then we visited the Strand Arts Centre to see the restoration work on this “picture house”, originally built almost a century ago. It was great to hear about how the building will have a new life as an arts centre, preserving its heritage but modernising it, while also providing opportunities for skills development.

Day three saw us hold the actual Members’ Forum meeting, with updates on key CIOB initiatives and plans – great engagement from delegates with interesting questions and feedback.

We were then off to our Immediate Past Presidents’ dinner and NI Hub Dinner held at the Culloden Hotel. This was a chance to express our thanks to outgoing President Mike Kagioglou and the work he has done around his presidential theme of the UN Sustainable Developments Goals.

Thank you to our Northern Ireland Hub committee for their support for the dinner, to the sponsors of the event to everyone who came.

The final full day of Members’ Forum 2025 included a first for the Members’ Forum itinerary – we held “open surgeries” so members could sign up to for one-to-ones with the Leadership Team and our subject leads.

Amanda Williams, Head of Environmental Sustainability, delivered a workshop and Q&A – again, great engagement and encouraging that there’s so much support for Amanda’s work.
After lunch the CIOB Leadership Team and Trustees opened themselves up to a Q&A from delegates, which is always a great forum for open feedback and discussions.

The penultimate event, something unique to this Members’ Forum, was a small surprise gathering to say a fond farewell to Caroline Gumble, as this was her last event with us as CIOB’s CEO.

The last official event of MF was a social evening to mark the end of the formal business of the Members’ Forum and to give delegates another chance to network and, hopefully, make plans to keep sharing best practice and collaborate.

If you’re interested to find out about how you can become more involved with our Local CIOB, and potentially attend a future Members’ Forum event, have a look at the CIOB website which has information about how you can become involved with your Local Hub. We’re also recruiting for Sustainability Ambassadors and EDI Ambassadors.