CIAT General Business Meeting

On Saturday last I made the early morning trip to Dublin to the CIAT General Business Meeting. The attendance, wasn't as bad as I expected although, it was still only 5% of the actual membership of the Irish Centre. So much for people’s interest in an Institute and one wonders why they are members at times.

As part of the meeting the President Mark Kenneth made a presentation. I have to say that Mark was very down to earth. The presentation was very interesting and informative. As one guy said the kind of thing to help boost moral in the current climate. It wasn't just talk there is substance behind it: Mark informed us that the practice documentation is now ready for use by ROI Chartered members and have referred another matter to the Competition Authority. More reasons to have my POP Record completed sooner rather than later.

All that went forward were re-elected to the committee along with two new members, officers will be decided in the coming weeks at the new committee’s first meeting.

IATGN/Tegral CPD Event

Last night I headed to WIT for the IATGN/Tegral CPD event and added two more hours to the CPD record. The attendance was by no means great, however this could have been attributed to the timing, as the evenings get long people rather be in the garden than travelling to meetings.I think the lads inthe IATGN recoknised this too. The fact that so many AT's are no longer working too didn't help matters either I guess.

One reason I like attending events like these, is the social side and the chat with fellow AT's whom I don't often see. At the last event back in March I met a guy whom, I was in collage with in WIT that I hadn't seen in almost 14 years and again last night I met one guy whom I hadn't seen in 16 years, whom I was in collage with, in Carlow RTC as it was then. This I feel is the real benfit of a graduate network and something I would hope will not be lost going forward.

The presentations/ topics covered on the night were made by Bobby O'Neill of theTegral and were very informative, I had past experience of the Slating presentation, however I did pick up a few things, or a few items were refreshed in my mind. The second part of the presentation was on rainscreen cladding and while general was very informative and is something I will be looking into further, particularly as a method of weathering external insulation type construction.

Saturday sees me in Dublin for the CIAT General Business meeting and an opportunity to meet a few more fellow ATs.

CPD Events and meetings

CPD is back on the agenda with a number of events planned in the coming weeks. First up is an IATGN organised event on Wednesday next in WIT: Tegral Building Products will be making two presentations, one , their excellent CPD event relating to slating and the second rain screen cladding. Something for both the domestic and the commercial orientated AT there.

Then on Saturday 25th its off to Dublin for the CIAT General Business Meeting and an audience with the CIAT's President Mark Kenneth, where I am going forward for re-election to the CIAT Centre's Committee. It will be interesting to see what kind of attendance will be there.

In May, I am scheduled to attend the CIAT organised course in relation to the role of PSDP (Project Supervisor Design Process). This course will be of assistance in allowing me undertake the role of PSDP and expand the range of services that can be provided by the practice. It is also hoed to hold a POP record workshop on the Tuesday evening of that event, which I also plan to attend.

Positive vibes

Despite yesterday's budget, there appears to be some pick up in work, or definitely the office seems busier the last few days with clients coming and going. A number of projects are progressing to their next stage; planning applications to be lodged, fire safety certificate applications to be made and construction drawings to be prepared. We even received a positive decision from An Bord Pleanala.