Brunton’s Blog – Jim, thanks!

Brunton’s Blog – Jim, thanks!

As this is my last blog before the Christmas holiday period, and in effect the last this year, it would be amiss of me not to let the occasion pass without reference to Jim and his contribution to our industry. My blog this week is dedicated to Jim and used also as a means of thanking him for his professionalism, support and advice to me personally and directly over the last five months.

Since August, when I joined the SPRA team, I have been working with Jim in preparation for taking over from him, as he leaves SPRA at the end of this month. Despite having known him in one capacity or another over the last twenty years or so, it has been in the last few months that I can fully appreciate his capacity to assist and guide others by passing on his understanding and knowledge of all things single ply roofing. I am sure many of our members and others have benefited from this experience and guidance also. There is no doubt that Jim is one of a kind and will hopefully continue to impart his roofing wisdom with the occasional ‘Jim’s Jotter’.

I think it is helpful to appreciate just how much Jim has shaped and built a strong technical platform from which SPRA can develop further. SPRA has a reputation in the wider construction industry for working with all to, ‘do things the right way’ by engaging manufacturers and contractors collectively and understanding their working environment. The key elements of training, recording, inspection and technical auditing are critical and often referred to by Jim as ‘the pillars of SPRA’. Jim has been hugely instrumental in establishing and reinforcing these principals to the benefit of members and the wider industry.

As the construction industry at large is set to embark upon major change, some may say transformation, it will be attempting to adopt the type of principals akin to those that SPRA has focussed on for many years. We are extremely fortunate that SPRA has always had these guiding principals or ‘pillars’ as part of it’s DNA. So that, for me, is the type of platform that Jim has worked to develop and could not be more relevant as we move towards the major construction industry challenges of 2019 and beyond. There is no doubt that we have to further develop along the pathway already set. Our (SPRA) influence in the wider roofing and construction industry is vital by helping to establish better practice and we strive to continue to improve by making our systems even more robust and cutting edge. This pathway is clearly the right one and Jim has had so much to do with identifying it as the way forward for an organisation such as ours.

So in closing I would like to thank Jim for his willingness to assist and guide me, just as he has done with SPRA over the years, and wish him continued success and happiness in his professional and family life for the future.

Many thanks Jim!