The Guernsey Construction Forum, formed four years ago as a successor to the Construction Industry Forum, has been dissolved with immediate effect.
It has been amalgamated into the Guernsey Building Trades Employers Association as one of its sub-committees, taking responsibility for liaison with government.
‘This will further strengthen our consistent approach and provide a singular representative voice on behalf of the construction industry,’ the association said.
‘The GBTEA has been in existence for more than 100 years and has over 120 of the island’s construction companies as its members. By amalgamating the GCF under the GBTEA, the industry will have a democratically elected and representative body, to act on its behalf, as its government liaison resource.’
John Bampkin, chief executive of Norman Piette and chairman of the forum, will continue to lead it under its new identity, supported by four of its former members.
He said it would be ‘very much business as usual’ in terms of relationships with the States and the aim to support the construction industry and ensure cohesion between government and ‘one of its most crucial industries’.
‘We wanted to give the industry one voice and therefore be more representative of the industry,’ Mr Bampkin said.
‘The best way to do this was to use the GBTEA’s democratic electoral system and paying membership to amalgamate into its structure as a sub-committee.
‘Our role is to take key subjects that affect the construction industry and represent the GBTEA and large parts of the industry and its opinions and concerns. We feel that this will bring us a stronger voice and more consistent message and objectives.’
The Construction Industry Forum was an initiative set up in the early 2000s to provide a mechanism for the construction industry to engage with the States and its committees on matters including infrastructure projects and housebuilding.
The GBTEA said that the forum had provided a valuable conduit for the industry to understand future States workload and policies that would impact the industry.
The association covers the entire range of the industry, including architects, developers, builders and suppliers.
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