Page 22 - A4 Journal 2019

The Company

People
I am a sole practitioner architectural business. It has taken a while for me to approach it as a business. Business
development feels slow and at many times challenging. If I had to start again, I would have teamed up with others and
identified my mentors. Meeting others and building relationships with people within and beyond my profession can only be
done by getting out from behind my desk. I therefore relish the opportunity to have conversations that can sometimes spark
a different perspective that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own, or sometimes to be challenged when my views appear to
others as limited . With this in mind, the opportunity to meet experienced construction professionals that are experts in their
fields cannot be easily overlooked. I call it networking, but actually as it was mentioned at the recent event, it’s collaborating.

Trust
When Diana initially told me about the Company, its connection to the city of London and its history, I didn’t get it. I’m a
committed atheist and “Worshipful” seemed at odds with my beliefs. But I trusted her as she was fast becoming a mentor
that I could turn to. I could see that the WCC entrusted Diana to guide and lead their vision of drawing new members from
diverse backgrounds, and likewise, I could see that she trusted that the Company was genuine in its vision to influence a
topical matter in our industry, starting first with itself.
When something is unknown, authenticity and trust can be the bridge.”

st
A company fit for the 21 Century

st
At the recent away-days it was determined that we should focus on being “A Company fit for the 21 Century” and that the
Company should be on a firm financial footing and have a robust Charitable Trust.
Over the year we have gone a long way to achieving the financial aims, and our new financial arrangements will ensure that
we keep a firm hold on our finances, and look to not only supporting our Charitable Trust by donations but also making sure
that we work with the Trustees to use the Trust Funds to benefit construction.
The other aspects of being “A Company fit for the 21st Century” are those of inclusivity and getting a core of members who
have the ideals of a livery company at heart, and are willing and able to take over the reins of the company as time goes by.
It is very difficult to monitor how we are doing in terms of inclusivity without apply some form of temporal analysis, but we
have now started that analysis, initially looking at the age demographic of the Company and also the number of ladies who
are members. Recently similar statistics have also been collected across the livery by the Livery Committee, so we can
compare our performance with the average of the livery companies throughout the City. Going forward we are looking at how
to monitor other aspects of inclusivity including members’ perception of their ethnic origin, although that data is not available
to us from the Form A’s that are submitted by potential members when they apply to join the Company. We need to find a
way of doing this that does not imply selectivity or offend members’ sensitivities, and the Company is urgently considering
how we can best monitor inclusivity. We are quite convinced that we are open to members of all races, creeds, faiths,
religions etc, but if we are asked to quantify that conviction we may well struggle.

In terms of wishing to lower our average age, we were pleased to be able to report at Common Hall that our average age had
gone down by some 8 years during Mike Parrett’s time as Master. However, behind that statistic lies a mixture of passing,
resignation, recruitment and some data cleansing. Whether we can expect a similar drop next year is questionable.
However, the Company is determined to move forward and the initiatives that started this year will be pursued in the years to
come. We want to be a vibrant and forward thinking Company full of like minded people who are willing give of their time and
talents to take the Worshipful Company of Constructors to even greater heights.

Aeternum Vale

We lost some of our long-standing members over the last year and will miss their fellowship, wise counsel and presence in
the future. We remember them and our thoughts are with their friends and families.
Companion Muriel Booth died on 21 December 2018. She was 94 and had not attended Company functions for some time.
Liveryman John Kennedy Melling died on 10 October 2018, aged almost 92 . He was instrumental in the development of the
Company in the early days, and a fuller article about him is on page 21 and there was an obituary for him in The Times.

Page 22 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors | Autumn 2019