How does the FMB Scotland Board help other members?

Most but not all members will know that the FMB works within and across the three devolved nations and seven English regions in the UK. At the UK level, the FMB is governed by an elected, all-member Board of Directors, with day-to-day management delegated to a Senior Management Team. In Scotland, as with the nine other FMB regions, we have an FMB ‘Area Board’ (not the best description, but let’s park this for now!) which is made up of FMB members.

In accordance with the FMB Rules, the Area Board is responsible for providing a forum for members to discuss industry issues, to represent the interests of fellow members in the nation or region and to support the work of the main FMB Board. Market intelligence, trading conditions, skills and training are just some of the issues which the Scotland Board discusses at each quarterly meeting.

The FMB’s membership package and services for members (such as our business and legal helplines) also come under the spotlight. We share summarises of the items discussed after each meeting, so all members can find out about what is going on. The latest one is here.

A Scottish solution

The FMB Area Boards are an integral part of FMB governance. In Scotland, with a devolved Parliament with responsibilities for many matters directly impacting FMB members, our Scotland President Alastair Raitt felt that we needed a greater depth of focus. Alastair explains “we are all here to represent the interests of fellow members in Scotland and to support the work of the main FMB Board. With apprenticeships, skills, building standards, procurement, planning and housing all being devolved matters to Scotland, there is just too much to cover in any meaningful way during our meetings. So, we chose to set up supporting groups.”

Pam Wilson, who in September 2022 was elected as the Vice President of the Scotland Board, explains “Each of us on our Scotland Board now sits on at least one of our four new supporting groups. These groups purely focus on a specific area, allowing us the directors of local building firms, to dig into a topic and come up with ideas. One group covers apprenticeships, skills and training, one covers lobbying and policy, one is on procurement and buying and last but by no means least is the member liaison group.”

The objective is that the supporting groups will help the Scotland Board deliver outcomes for fellow members. The groups meet online in between the main meetings of the Scotland Board. Feedback and suggestions are then put to the full Scotland Board, with significant matters then raised to the main FMB Board.

To find out more about the Scotland Board and our four supporting groups, contact Gordon Nelson.

Authors

Gordon Nelson

FMB Scotland Hub Director, Federation of Master Builders

Director, Federation of Master Builders Scotland

Gordon has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles. Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. Gordon is the Secretary of the Cross-Party Group on Construction in the Scottish Parliament, and he is a member of the Scottish Building Standards Futures Board. Gordon represents the FMB on Scotland’s Construction Industry Collective Voice: which is comprised of the leading construction trade and professional bodies. In spring 2023 Gordon was appointed as an industry co-chair of the Construction Leaderships Forum’s (CLF) Transformation Board.

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