Buildoffsite – Building a positive future
Over the past 15 years, Buildoffsite has strived to deliver value and make an impact, not only for our members, but for industry as a whole. Over the past year we have been reviewing our effectiveness, refining our vision and setting new goals to ensure that as we turn into a new decade, we are not working in a fit for the past context, nor are we simply fiddling around the edges and implementing the changes which will make us fit for today, but ensuring that we are building the foundations to be fit for the future.
Ultimately, our focus remains on ensuring we offer and add value for our members, but in the context of a new operating environment, where all of our members corporate goals, knowledge sharing, a focus on impact, and the power of the network take precedence.
As we outlined at the last Direction Group meeting, this will involve a very clear shift to ensuring a much less narrow, and more transparent and inclusive, approach to engaging with members, ensuring a more comprehensive representation and understanding of the wider memberships’ views.
Alongside this, we will be building our resources dedicated to strategic impact across the industry, shaping our message and enabling our members to have a more credible voice with stakeholders. Part of this work will involve how we work together to build a sphere of influence and provide clarity around our objectives.
We have outlined some of the key initiatives we will be implementing over the coming months below. We look forward to working with many more of you as we progress in further building the power of our network.
Amplifying our voice
Over the next few months we will be implementing a number of improvements/initiatives to ensure that Buildoffsite continues to build on its position to enable the voice of our members to be more widely and powerfully heard. This includes consolidating our existing relationships with entities such as CIH and CLC, as well as broadening our range of influence.
Adding to the strengthened Industry Advisor Team, which provides a range of specialist expertise and experience from procurement, to Residential, infrastructure and delivery, we will shortly be welcoming Tim Broyd, as Head of Industry Foresight. Please click here to find out more about Tim’s credentials and influencing experience.
Tim’s early priorities will include reinforcing links with Government, industry and key stakeholders; informing the strategic development of the ongoing event programme; identifying and developing thought leadership content; highlighting opportunities for members; providing strategic direction for Buildoffsite’s wider commercial activities; And leading on the development of the Buildoffsite Manifesto.
For the first time since its inception, Buildoffsite will have a manifesto. A clear, concise message which articulates the membership’s views and required action on a range of issues facing the offsite industry.
The development of a manifesto not only enables a shared and therefore stronger voice for members, but also ensure that the message is that of the membership and not the opinions of one or two representatives. This then in turn ensures greater credibility and enables Buildoffsite to build a clear momentum and measure progress against these priority issues. It also enables members to support and further embed this work across industry and stakeholder groups. Over the next few weeks we will be consulting with all of the members to identify the top ten issues and refine and clarify how the manifesto will be collaboratively developed.
This will inform and form a key theme for the marketing strategy which will be launched shortly, focused on amplifying the great work of our members and further highlighting the benefits of offsite.
Working with and for the many
With a significantly and rapidly growing network of members, it’s more important than ever that Buildoffsite takes a new approach to delivering services and deciding on areas of focus. In future we will work with wider membership to generate, test and develop ideas for all of our activities.
This may take the form of surveys; the basis for much of this year’s review and change has been driven by the feedback you provided in the inaugural member survey last year. The next survey will be issued within the next few months.
As a key network in the CIRIA community, the governing body, the CIRIA Executive Board, is keen to introduce a more inclusive mechanism for Buildoffsite Members to be involved in shaping member activities and services. We will be exploring this with the members via communications, surveys and focus groups and wider meetings over the coming weeks to ensure a consensus view.
As we progress on the areas for improvement identified by the team and members over the past year, we will be taking a different approach to member engagement and introducing task and finish groups, focus groups and workshops to inform planning and ensure the best outcome for the wider membership.
We are keen to see a much wider range of members getting involved, working with us and informing our work, the strengths of our network lie in its depth and breadth and we want to maximise that, for everyone’s benefit.
Hubs shake up
Feedback surrounding the structure, format and added value from the Hub programme has highlighted that the wider membership can often feel disengaged or in the dark regarding work going on in Hubs with which they are not involved. This has in turn raised questions surrounding effectiveness and how we can ensure transparency and add value to the wider membership, as well as whether our current approach to Hubs is sustainable.
In response we have carried out an internal review of the hubs and explored a range of options for improvement and potential change which we will be consulting on over the coming weeks. Please keep an eye out for news regarding focused workshops which we will be inviting members to attend to challenge and inform a way forward.
Strategic event focus
Similarly to the feedback around Hubs, we fully acknowledge the range of positive suggestions and ideas surrounding the opportunity to improve the range, format, quality and balance of events across the programme.
As a priority, we will be aligning the programme and content to ensure that it is adding strategic value to members across the board, as well as presenting wider opportunities for all members to meet their corporate goals, across business development and profile, knowledge sharing, collaboration and influencing. In order to achieve this we are revising our internal approach to event and content development; moving to a more collaborative process, involving strategically focused colleagues across organisations, and leveraging partnerships and stakeholder relationships more widely, as well as working on new ideas with members.
Guidance, insight and opportunity
Some great work has been done to ensure members are up to speed with industry news and we are also looking at the introduction of a more robust mechanism for advising members of grant/research/funding opportunities.
The identification of opportunities to challenge perceptions through the development of good practice guidance or content will also be regularly reviewed.