The British Woodworking Federation Group

BWF Members Day and AGM: Record numbers and cracking feedback

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16/06/2018

BWF Members Day and AGM: Record numbers and cracking feedbackBWF Members Day 2018 attracted over 150 delegates and so far feedback is rating the event 4.6 out of 5.  The event featured a mix of keynote speakers, workshops and a supplier exhibition.  Members can access the presentations and see the workshops here.

Newly re-elected BWF President, Sean Parnaby Managing Director of West Port opened the day with the following address:

“It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you today to Members Day and to see this event growing year on year.  I hope that you enjoy what looks set to be a very stimulating day

The theme of today is Build it Better with Wood and these words cut to the very much at the heart of the BWF Strategy.
BWF exists to give voice to the fact that you can Build it Better with Wood, promoting the inherent sustainability of timber, its credentials as a healthy building material, the remarkable properties that it can exhibit, the inherent beauty, the ongoing innovation in our sector and crucially championing our Code of Conduct – ensuring that members are recognised for their professionalism and values. 
Do we make a difference?  You can see some of the quotes contained in our Annual Review from key stakeholders that underpin the regard in which the BWF is held.
We also ensure that Government know that you can Build it Better with Wood and that this is reflected in policy, ensuring that woodworking is a recognised as a key part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy that we will hear more about today. 
Build it Better with Wood also sets down a challenge for the BWF and ourselves as members, how can we be more sustainable, healthy, productive and safe. 
This time last year we were just starting to appreciate the terrible tragedy of Grenfell Tower.  This disaster is a huge wake up call for the construction sector and the unhealthy contractual culture that has led to a “not my problem” approach to building.   I am very proud of the way our Federation has stepped up to support the various working groups and committees.  Many of the conclusions from the Hackitt Review are consistent with the lobbying work that we have done through our Fire Door scheme and latterly around Fire Door Safety Week.  We now need to continue lead by example, casting off the contractual siloes and being relentless in ensuring that our products don’t just work in tests, but that they perform when needed throughout their lives. 
We have the benefit of working with the most sustainable of all construction materials.  We have made this point strongly, particularly through our Fake Facts campaign, where we started to call out the PVC sector on some of their misleading marketing.  But are we, as businesses, operating as sustainably as we can? what packaging materials are we using, how efficiently are we running our factories, when and how are we using preservatives.  Our life cycle assessment tool helps us to explore this and show us how we can be better.  Have you taken advantage of the free life cycle assessments so you can start your journey of improvement?
When it comes to safety, we know from our research that our members are considerably better than the wider woodworking sector when it comes to accidents, but one is too many.  We must all strive to be better and today is very much about that, stepping back taking stock and moving forwards. 
On the safety front, we are very proud to present to you today our new H&S Manual.  There is a hard copy in your packs and we hope very much that this a document that won’t gather dust on a shelf, but will support a process of continual improvement in your business.  This will be joined tonight by our online new H&S Assessment tool, a self-audit tool that will help you to prioritise activity in your business.

As part of the programme today you will start to see new themes emerging through our programme, notably productivity, which will be a big part of BWF activity over the next 18 months.  We need to rise to the challenge of the Industrial Strategy, but more than that, BWF exists to help members trade more profitably and in a backdrop of value engineering a material price inflation, businesses ignore productivity at their peril.

The BWF is involved in too much to do it justice in a short speech, but also in our packs is our annual review, a punchy document that shows the punch that BWF packs, we truly have one of the most active and progressive trade bodies in the UK.  Please have a scan through to see what we are doing, but vitally too, what we aren’t.  BWF is your trade body and we need to hear your voice to ensure we are delivering for you.

Today we have a varied program, which reflects the scope of BWF work.  We also have all of our staff here and if you have any questions or suggestions for how you want to see the BWF evolve, please don’t hesitate to grab them.  Members of our Council, people like you who have stepped up to lead and guide are also here and they also welcome your thoughts and ideas and can play them in on your behalf, at the end of the day, they are your representatives.  Could I ask Council Members here to stand so we can see who you are.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for attending today our fabulous speakers and Joinerysoft our Headline Sponsor and Pyroguard, the W18 exhibition and Qwood for their support.”
To download all the presentations from Members Day click here

“It is a very friendly event, more like meeting up with friends with some informative workshops thrown into the mix”.  2018 Attendee

“Well organised, good location, nice people, good spread of seminars. It was a very good event and we took away lots of ideas. We will be attending next year!”.  2018 Attendee

“The workshops and speakers were all of a very high quality, covering excellent and interesting topics”.  2018 Attendee

Click on the picture below to see more pictures of the day

BWF Members Day and AGM: Record numbers and cracking feedback BWF Members Day and AGM: Record numbers and cracking feedback
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Member of Construction Products Association
National Specialist Contractors Council
Passive Fire Protection Federation
CITB
The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products