North West Construction Network
25th July 2016
The meeting was a resounding success with over 30 delegates attending from many construction disciplines.
The industry speakers included Laura Guy from the CITB, Adrian Mitchell, Dave Randles and Simon Hughes from Simian. Topics covered on the day included the Apprenticeship Levy, Scaffolders’ CPD and Safety considerations when employing young people.
The presentations from the industry experts were followed by a thought-provoking presentation entitled ‘Former Legal Highs – All You Need to Know’ by Ally Hodgson from Evolve, a Liverpool-based charity, which raises awareness of the dangers of so-called legal highs and volatile substance abuse (VSA).
Evolve work with Simian to offer training on the dangers of legal highs and VSA to those on our training and apprenticeships schemes. Evolve also offer practical help and support to those whose lives are impacted by substance abuse.
The formal presentations were followed by a buffet lunch and an opportunity to network and talk business with other construction industry professionals.
Feedback from the event has been extremely positive and following on from the success of this first event we are planning future meetings.
Here is just a sample of some of the feedback we received.
“I was so moved by Ally’s story and regretted not having a chance to chat with her afterwards – she is a captivating and passionate speaker – the room was in silence listening to her.”
“I enjoyed the session yesterday and would like to attend the next one.”
“Just wanted to say how enjoyable and beneficial this morning’s meeting was – I genuinely felt that it had some real benefit to those attending.”
“I particularly enjoyed the EVOLVE talk – we may consider bringing her into our organisation at some point as I think a lot of our managers (like me) are not fully au fait with the newer drugs and these so called legal highs. It was really eye-opening as well as hard hitting without being graphic or dramatic. She knows her stuff and has credibility about the subject and I think it is admirable that you have had the foresight to include this for the apprentices/ trainees.”
Watch this space for news of future networking events.
Those in attendance are free to contact Simon O’Donnell, Simian’s Business Development Manager for a copy of the presentation slides, on 0345 6022418. (Option 1)