Construction and building engineering services are living through an era of unprecedented change, according to Andy Sneyd, newly elected president of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES).

Speaking at the association’s agm Mr Sneyd said: “Many people believe that the industry, and the part we play in it, will remain pretty much the same as in decades past – but this is a mistake. We can no longer depend on the old certainties or on established working practices. The truth is that change is here to stay – and if we are to survive and prosper, as a sector and as individual businesses, we must not only embrace that change. We must actively lead it,” he insisted.

He went on to say that B&ES had a wider duty than simply to serve the interests of its members and pointed out that the association has published many of the specifications and good practice guides that have established quality standards for the sector. He also highlighted the fact that a preference for B&ES membership is written into many pre-qualification documents.

He added: “And it is no coincidence that we remain the only construction industry body that requires its members to undergo third-party competence assessment against a single set of rigorous criteria we ourselves developed, with input from the sector as a whole.”

B&ES is more than just a trade association, Mr Sneyd said: “Today, we have an increasingly crucial role to play in supporting, educating and encouraging our members as they face the challenges posed by new technologies, the ever-growing demand for energy efficiency, and the quest for smarter working practices – perhaps best exemplified by the BIM revolution, in which the contracting sector has a pivotal role to play.”

Mr Sneyd said that progress is seldom, if ever, the result of a single party to the construction process “going it alone”.

“True progress derives from co-operation, from collaboration and from partnerships formed by those who share a real commitment to continuous improvement and a genuine desire to work better, smarter and more productively – to the benefit of all concerned.”

Speaking as “the first officer of the Association to have served exclusively in the B&ES era”, he acknowledged that many of today’s key issues – such as fair payment, early involvement in the construction process, skills shortages and raising awareness of the added value specialist contractors can deliver to their clients – were by no means new.

“But having been around for so long doesn’t make them any less serious, ­or finding solutions to them any less urgent – and they will remain high on the agenda during my term of office,” Mr Sneyd concluded.